Undertaking Effective Investigations A Guide for National Human Rights Institutions They were accompanied by an Aboriginal QPS Police Liaison Officer (PLO), Lloyd Bengaroo. When they arrived at the house, a Patrick Bramwell was outside and began shouting at the officers. S/Sgt. Hurley arrested him for drunkenness. The arrest Mulrunji was also present outside the Bramwell house. He appeared intoxicated but otherwise had no sign of illness or injury. Apparently, he began verbally berating PLO Bengaroo, accusing him of “betraying his own people”. PLO Bengaroo told him to leave. S/Sgt. Hurley, who had not heard the conversation, asked PLO Bengaroo what had happened. Mulrunji, who was walking away, turned around and swore at the officers. S/Sgt. Hurley then arrested Mulrunji for public nuisance and placed him in his police vehicle next to Patrick Bramwell. The arrest took place at approximately 10.20am. Arrival at the police watch-house It was a short drive to the police watch-house. Upon arrival, S/Sgt. Hurley parked the police vehicle in the garage area at the rear of the police station. Roy Bramwell, who was the suspect in the earlier assault on Gladys and her sisters, was at the police watch-house, although apparently not under arrest. He was being spoken to by another QPS officer, Sgt. Leafe. Also present was an off-duty officer, Constable (Cst.) Steadman, who was on his way into the watch-house via the area where the police vehicle was parked. According to his notes, he had a view of the door into the cell area. The garage area was also visible to people from outside the watch-house, including two passersby, Alfred Bonner and Penny Sibley. Removal from the vehicle Mulrunji was taken from the back of the police vehicle and toward the door leading into the station. At this point, he was verbally protesting. According to witnesses, Mulrunji hit S/Sgt. Hurley hard in the face as he got out of the police vehicle. Penny Sibley and another witness state that S/Sgt. Hurley then punched Mulrunji in the face. Penny Sibley stated that she saw S/Sgt. Hurley hit Mulrunji “… in the side or the rib”. The fall at the door As S/Sgt. Hurley and Mulrunji went through the door into the watch-house, some kind of a struggle was going on. They both fell to the floor. The mechanics of the fall – who fell in relation to whom, when, where and how – proved to be the crucial issue in this case. S/Sgt. Hurley stated subsequently to Sgt. Leafe and others that he fell to the side of Mulrunji and did not land on him. Cst. Steadman, in a statement made three weeks later, stated that it appeared that S/ Sgt. Hurley landed on top of Mulrunji. Taken to the cell After the fall, Mulrunji was no longer protesting or resisting his arrest. Sgt. Leafe assisted S/Sgt. Hurley drag Mulrunji down the corridor, through a doorway and into a cell. The officers then took Patrick Bramwell who was, according to them, too drunk to walk, into the police station and dragged him to the same cell as Mulrunji. There were no other people in the cell. Video recording and cell checks S/Sgt. Hurley went to the main area of the watch-house where his office was located. The cell where Mulrunji and Patrick Bramwell had been placed had a video camera in it for monitoring purposes.6 6 2 Video cameras had been introduced into some watch-houses following a major inquiry into Aboriginal deaths in custody that took place between 1987 and 1991. The inquiry – the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody – made 339 recommendations. These recommendations are available at www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/national/vol5/5. html#Heading5.