Change of evidence may change a lot for Palm Island
Senior Sergeant James Hurley is the first police officer in Australian history to face trial over the death in custody of an Aboriginal man, but the law is taking a long slow path to resolving the case. The now notorious case of the death of Mulrunji Domadgee in a Palm Island lockup in 2004 is in the headlines again this week as the third coronial inquest gets underway. In testimony that has surprised everyone, a fellow prisoner at the time and witness to Domadgee’s death, Roy Bramwell, has changed his story …he now says there was a mirror in the cell and he was able to see what happened between Hurley and Doomadgee. Gracelyn Smallwood is Associate Professor at the James Cook University and a long time activist for the Doomadgee family – she says that what Roy Bramwell is saying now is no surprise as it is what he has always told her.