Petitions call for inquest to be re-opened
Petitions are being circulated around Australia and overseas, calling on the Northern Territory government to re-open an inquest into a Aboriginal man’s death in custody 20 years ago. Addressed to the NT Chief Minister Clare Martin and Coroner Greg Cavanagh, the petitions raise questions about the death of Douglas Bruce Scott in Darwin’s Berrimah Jail in 1985. Mr Scott’s wife Letty had his body exhumed last year for a new autopsy by a forensic expert – who found the body had lesions consistent with torture. At a Supreme Court hearing in June, for the first time, Aboriginal tribal witnesses were able to give evidence on what they saw and heard that night in Cell number 8. Mrs Scott says the evidence should be heard by a Coronial Inquest, and her calls have the strong support of the New South Wales Indigenous Social Justice Association. President Ray Jackson says the petition already has thousands of signatures.