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Red flag raised after Indigenous death in cell custody
An Australian legal body has called on the NSW government to act following the first Indigenous death in NSW police cell custody in 16 years.
Emma Musgrave
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has urged the NSW government to look into the death of Rebecca Maher – a 36-year-old Wiradjuri woman who was kept in a holding cell last month.
“ALHR is deeply troubled to learn of the first Indigenous death in custody in NSW since the introduction of the very effective Custody Notification Service (CNS) in 2000,” said Kerry Weste, ALHR vice-president.
“ALHR strongly supports calls from the Aboriginal Legal Service for an urgent review of the legislation relating to the detention of intoxicated persons.
“We call on the NSW government to extend procedures that require police to notify the CNS when an Aboriginal person is arrested so that they apply equally for persons held for intoxication.”
Ms Weste said ALHR is very concerned that there may have been failures on the part of the NSW police to enact certain pathways to ensure the welfare of Ms Maher.
“It is unclear whether, during the five to six hours that she was held, police have complied with their legal obligation to continually seek to place Ms Maher into the care of a responsible person, provide her with adequate care appropriate to her needs and not place her in a cell unless it was necessary, or impracticable to hold her elsewhere,” she said.
“Indigenous Australians are among the most highly incarcerated peoples in the world, being 15 times more likely than other Australians to be imprisoned.
“The vulnerability of Aboriginal Australians to death whilst in police custody has been well documented. Twenty-five years ago, the CNS was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody for precisely this reason.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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