not quite suffered enough?

27

Opinion

When contacted by this writer for a more current police opinion on TJ’s death, a NSW police media officer responded that due to the time that has elapsed, police media archives were unlikely to hold the most recent public police statements about his death. When this was found to be the case, this information was again requested directly from the NSW Police Force Media Unit, who informed this writer that police do not present opinions and that the reports which they submit to the coroner for consideration in making a ruling are not released to the public as they are for the information of the coroner. TJ’s family refuse to accept Abernethy’s verdict and have repeatedly called for an independent investigation, criticising many perceived failures in the police investigation. For example, a different unmarked police car involved in the same operation and being driven by another detective senior constable, Daryl Pace, was implicated by a number of Redfern residents in telephone calls to the police on the afternoon of TJ’s death. However, Pace was never classed as an “involved officer” nor was he interviewed, nor was the car he was driving, Redfern 103, impounded or tested. Pace took part in the subsequent police investigation, even interviewing key witnesses. In addition, during their investigation, the police took TJ’s bicycle into custody, refusing to allow any photographs to be taken by a forensic expert retained on TJ’s mother’s behalf.

November 16, 2011 • w w w.nit.com.au

On 25 March 2004, April Ciesman, who had been TJ’s girlfriend, viewed the bike and stated that a wheel had been replaced. TJ’s mother, Gail Hickey, appealed directly to the UN Human Rights Committee on the sixth anniversary of his death for a new inquiry, on the grounds that Australia violated its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in failing to conduct an independent investigation. The Committee, which considers a huge number of communications each year of which only a selection are registered, informed her legal team less than nine months later in November 2010 that the complaint had been registered. However, the family again faced anguish just three months later in February 2011, when council opposition prevented them from erecting a commemoration plaque at the location of TJ’s death. On none other than the seventh anniversary of his death, they were informed that police objected to five words stating TJ was impaled on the fence “arising from a police pursuit”. A Housing NSW spokesperson said the family was informed that a commemorative plaque could be installed if the wording “reflected the known facts.” The riot following TJ’s death clearly indicate what the Redfern community believes those facts to be. TJ’s aunt, Virginia Hickey,

TJ Hickey’s family. Image supplied

with whom he had been living before he died and who was arrested for participating in the riot, believes the police caused her nephew’s death. “They were chasing him ... I saw the bike. The back wheel was all wobbly. The path was smashed up. They knocked him off it.” Virginia, who is also Letisha’s aunt, claims her family has been continually harassed by police since TJ’s death. “This has been going on to the whole family. At first it was awful, now I know how to handle them. They come straight in my house. After all these years I’m immune to it. They’ve been in this house over 40 times. They keep wanting to search TJ’s room. Why? There’s nothing in there.” “It’s evil what they’re doing to our children” she continued. “This is the fourth time my son’s going to court. None of us had a record before what happened to TJ. Now we all do. It was ridiculous just after. They were arresting them for crossing the street on a red light. TJ’s girlfriend got arrested for spitting. Our kids know that no matter which way they turn, there are police waiting for them, or a court case.” Virginia believes TJ was being intimidated into selling drugs. “He told me, ‘Aunt, they want me to put gear on the Block. I got five little sisters. I won’t do it.’ Two days later he was dead. They killed him. I know that’s why, because he told me ... That’s how I know it’s true. It was over heroin.” “The last few years have been like living in hell,” she continued. “But I’ll keep saying it till the day I die. They wanted him to put heroin on the Block. They can try to shut me up. They punish me every way they can. But I’ll keep shouting about it because that’s the only way we might save other kids from the same thing.” In a Four Corners investigation into TJ’s death in March 2004, former director of NSW Crime Prevention, Clive Small, spoke about his analysis of the heroin trade in Redfern to reporter Liz Jackson. “There was some information coming through that just didn’t make Friends and family members continue to show their outrage of injustice at TJ Hickey’s funeral. sense when you put it together, Image supplied and as a result of that, we did a

more detailed review of the data to try and get a better picture of what was occurring. The review of the data indicated that, in 2002, Redfern and Kings Cross had by far the biggest heroin problem in Sydney. In Redfern alone, over one million syringes were handed out that year. On the other hand, the average number of heroin arrests a month was a modest six, some of them just small-time users. It indicated a massive failure of policing. People who live on the Block knew, of course, that the problem with heroin dealers had just been left to fester for years.” Small told Four Corners that in October 2002 he had taken the Redfern heroin use and arrest figures to then police minister, Michael Costa, prompting Premier Bob Carr to announce the Redfern anti-drug plan less than three weeks later. While this purported to involve renewed action to arrest dealers, shut down drug houses and get users into treatment, Small’s further research more than a year later showed there had been no successful drug house prosecutions. He found the number of heroin arrests for 2003 were actually lower than before the asserted crackdown, falling from an average of six to four a month. “The consequences for the community are devastating,” he told Jackson, “It attracts the drug trade and expands it and simply makes life a living hell.” A Redfern community member, Shane Phillips, commented, “The fact that they’ve let it carry on for so long is, you know ... it makes some people, and I ... I sometimes feel like it ... you know, it’s done on purpose. If you were paranoid you’d believe that it was there on purpose.” When Jackson asked what he meant, Phillips responded, “Well, let all them blackfellas destroy each other and then we haven’t got anyone to ... to keep them in Redfern or keep them fighting for the ... for the better of their people.” This culture of suspicion and animosity between the Redfern community and police, catalysed by TJ’s horrendous death into deep collective anger, motivated people towards their only perceived method of resistance – to riot. In turn, the protesters’ harsh and brutal treatment, with heavy charges laid against anyone involved, has further increased tensions between locals and police. With still no one held accountable for TJ’s death, the recent events in Riverstone saw local support for the Hickeys again drummed up, with the three family members put on good behaviour bonds now appealing their charges. The separate trial of two younger family members arrested during the raid in the Children’s Court this month is just one more hurdle in a seemingly relentless struggle. However, they refuse to surrender their fight for justice for TJ, a determination they all too well understand as the reason they have been denied the right to grieve their tragic loss in peace.