Latest news with #coronialinquest
ABC News
15-07-2025
- ABC News
Hunter Valley teenager Zac Barnes died in suspicious circumstances, coroner finds
A coronial inquest into the disappearance of a Hunter Valley teenager almost a decade ago has found he has died, despite his body never being found. Zac Barnes, 18, was last seen after he got out of a friend's car on the way to Thornton train station and ran into bushland on November 13, 2016. In handing down her findings on Tuesday, Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes found Mr Barnes was most likely dead, but said the manner, cause or place of his death could not be established. "I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities Zac is deceased," she said. The inquest examining the lead-up to Mr Barnes' disappearance and the police response began in July 2023 and resumed on Tuesday after a two-year break to allow police to continue the investigation. The court heard that in the month prior to his disappearance Mr Barnes consumed ice and drank alcohol to excess. "He drank too much and missed his brother's 21st in a Newcastle pub," counsel assisting the coroner Tim Hammond said. He said Mr Barnes also consumed methamphetamine on the day he vanished. "[Zac's friends said] he ate a piece [of methamphetamine] seven millimetres thick, the shape of a fifty centre coin," Mr Hammond said. The court heard Mr Barnes got out of his friend's car on the way to the train station, hugged his friend and ran towards Haussman Drive. "His erratic behaviour was consistent with a person feeling paranoid and anxious after using ice," Mr Hammond said. The inquest heard that a little more than a week before he went missing Mr Barnes took ecstasy tablets into a Newcastle music festival. "He had taken in with him 50 ecstasy tablets on credit from a friend who supplied him regularly," Mr Hammond said. The inquest heard Mr Barnes had asked his mother for $1,200 to pay his friend back. The inquest heard police did not deploy aerial resources in the search for Mr Barnes until he had been missing for eight days. Mr Hammond said a police review of the investigation found that a formal risk assessment was not completed at the beginning of the search. The review also found a multi-agency search should have occurred days before it did. "A decision should have been made to conduct the search immediately, given the circumstances of Zac's disappearance," Mr Hammond said. Detective Peter Davis told the court recent police investigations have not led to the discovery of any DNA evidence. "The most recent search on the database has not identified any remains which belonged to Mr Barnes," he said. Mr Barnes's mother Karen Gudelj held back tears as she read a statement to the court. "He was larger than life — he was a great mate, competitive, intelligent and, most of all, he really cared what people thought of him," she said. "He deserves justice and to be found and we as a family deserve answers." Magistrate Forbes has recommended the New South Wales unsolved homicide investigation team take over the case. The coroner acknowledged the pain endured by Mr Barnes's family throughout the years. "I acknowledge the painful and persistent uncertainty felt by not knowing what happened to Zac and not being able to give him a proper funeral and farewell," Magistrate Forbes said.
RNZ News
15-07-2025
- RNZ News
Malachi Subecz inquest: Cousin tells of efforts to rescue boy from abusive caregiver
Malachi Subecz died after suffering months of abuse at the hands of his carer. Photo: Supplied The cousin of murdered five-year-old Malachi Subecz has detailed her efforts to rescue the young boy from his abusive caregiver. A coronial inquest into the boy's death continued Tuesday with evidence from his adult cousin Megan Cotter. Malachi Subecz had been placed in the care of Michaela Barriball in Tauranga after the boy's mother Jasmine Cotter was sent to prison. But this raised alarm bells for Cotter's family, who knew Barriball as the daughter of Cotter's co-accused. "My main concern was the fact that Michaela was the co-accused's daughter and there was speculation that Malachi was being used as leverage or blackmail to try and stop Jas giving evidence against [Barriball's mother]," Megan Cotter said. Megan, who lived in Wellington, made a report of concern to Oranga Tamariki and contacted Jasmine the next day. "I pretty much told her we were terrified for Malachi's safety and if it turns nasty in court that he could be in danger. Jas responded saying 'they're my friends,' I told her 'they're not your friends and that's why you're in jail and they're out here laughing with your child'." Megan Cotter began to suspect her cousin was in danger and started gathering evidence. "On the 26th of June 2021 I received three photographs of Malachi from Michaela via Facebook Messenger after I had asked, pretending, that I wanted to see how his eye was after the eye surgery he had back in October 2020," she explained. "When I got the photos, I was looking for any injuries or anything to be concerned about. I thought he had a bit of a black eye and possibly a fat lip." She said it was unlike Malachi to injure himself. "He wasn't a daredevil-type child, he wouldn't even climb up the ladder for the bunk beds at my house because he was too scared," she said. But those photographs were not enough for Oranga Tamariki to act. "On the 28th of June 2021, I sent the photos of Malachi's face to OT after speaking to them on the phone and telling them I had concerns," she recounted. "Between that date and the 30th of July 2021, I was contacted by OT who told me the investigation wasn't going to go any further." Megan Cotter searched for bruises on Malachi when they next met. "Michaela and Malachi came down to Wellington and stayed at my address because Malachi had a follow-up eye appointment… I had a bag of clothing at my house for Malachi so when he came to stay, I got him to try on some of the clothes," she said. "This was an excuse to look over his body while he was getting dressed to see if there was anything to keep him there with me and stop Michaela taking him back. All there was was teeny bruises on his shins and nothing I was concerned about." Megan Cotter then tried to convince Michaela to return Malachi to his family. "At one point I had said to Michaela that Malachi's supposed father was going to come to court if Malachi wasn't with family," she said. "I was just bluffing to try and get Michaela to bring Malachi down here to me." Despite Megan Cotter's efforts, Michaela retained custody of Malachi until his hospitalisation and eventual death in November of 2021. "Learning about Malachi being admitted to hospital and transferred to Starship was one of the most devastating experiences I had in my life. My worst fears were realised, I knew immediately Michaela was responsible," she said. "I cannot put into words all the emotions I experienced. I had told Jasmine, police, Oranga Tamariki, the lawyer for child, the family court, Jasmine's family, criminal lawyers and the Tauranga District Court that Malachi was not safe and should not be in Michaela's care." She hoped the inquest could make recommendations that would prevent similar deaths in the future. "I want there to be some positive from Malachi's death, I do not want to read [about] another child dying while their parent goes into custody," she said. "I consider this might not have happened if there was a system in place for making sure enquiries were made with family of the person charged who has the sole care of dependent children before a person is remanded in custody." The lawyer assisting the coroner, Vivienne Crawshaw, noted Megan had been "incredibly persistent" in her attempts to save her cousin. "I've listed here that over a three-day period you made 10 attempts to alert the authorities," she said. "And none of those contacts [made you] feel heard, is that right?" "Yes," Megan Cotter responded. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
ABC News
08-07-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Symerien Brooking's death at Perth Children's Hospital to be examined at coronial inquest
A coronial inquest into the death of a 10-year-old girl who died at WA's main paediatric hospital last August is set to take place after her mother shared her story, and her pleas for answers, with the ABC. WARNING: This story contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died. Sharyn Morris said she hoped the inquest would help her understand why her repeated requests for her daughter, Symerien Brooking, to have a brain scan were ignored, and what caused the fatal bleeding on her daughter's brain. "I need answers. I need to know," she said. "I need to know why my child's life was taken unnecessarily. "And to know that it's not going to happen to other people. "There has to be justification for what goes wrong." Symerien was taken off life support almost 48 hours after arriving at Perth Children's Hospital (PCH). Ms Morris had found her daughter unresponsive on the floor. Symmie, as she had come to be known, was born with an extremely rare and complex congenital disease and lived with numerous medical conditions. She was under the care of several specialists at PCH, including within the neurology department, and had presented twice in the months before her death with seizure activity. As soon as the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Ms Morris said she asked those treating her daughter to organise a CT scan of Symmie's brain. While Symmie did go on to have seizures — with one lasting 45 minutes — Ms Morris said she was not seizing upon presentation, so should have been able to have a scan. Despite what Ms Morris said were repeated requests for her daughter to have a brain scan, one was not done until seven hours later. By then it was too late. The scan found significant bleeding, and while surgery was done to insert drains in an attempt to remove the fluid, it did not work. Ms Morris — who was herself a grandmother when she took over caring for Symmie when the girl was just 10 days old — left the hospital without the person who had become her whole world. The ABC first told the story of Symmie's remarkable life and Ms Morris's relentless pursuit of her daughter's survival in 2019. When Symmie was born, doctors did not expect her to live for much more than a year. But Symmie defied all the odds. Ms Morris said her daughter's prognosis had never been more positive and her overall care plan had gone from being one focused on providing quality of life to including quantity. One of Symmie's doctors had even told her he expected her daughter would outlive her. Ms Morris wants the inquest to not only understand what happened in her daughter's case, but to try and bring about cultural change within the medical system, so parents and caregivers are listened to by doctors. "She [Symmie] was a very caring, loving young girl, and she gave everything to all who met her," Ms Morris said. "I know that she would want to make sure that the system was better … so other children didn't suffer and other parents don't suffer." As a community advocate, Suresh Rajan has supported other families in their quests for answers after a child they loved died in WA's health system, including the 2021 death of Aishwarya Aswath at PCH, and Sandipan Dhar who died in March last year at Joondalup Health Campus. "If you look at all of the cases that we've had in the last few years, all of them boil down to one thing — that the medical professional is not listening to either the caregiver or the patient as to what is required," he said. Mr Rajan said he hoped an inquest into Symmie's death, alongside those into the deaths of Aishwarya and Sandipan, would bring about actual change. "I hope that these cases become seminal events in changing the culture of our health system," he said. "The WA health system suffers from a culture of doctors not listening to the patient or the caregiver, they have the view that they're the only ones who know what's wrong with that person. That has to change." While a date for the inquest is yet to be announced, the WA Coroner has advised one will take place, according to a government spokesperson. "This information was shared by the Health Minister with Ms Morris during their meeting last month," the spokesperson said. "The death of any child or young person is a tragedy, which has a devastating impact on the families, friends and communities involved.
SBS Australia
08-07-2025
- SBS Australia
Coroner's report finds death of Kumanjayi Walker was 'avoidable', recognises 'years of grief and trauma'
Warning: this article contains distressing and violent content and the name and photo of an Aboriginal person who has died. After almost three years of waiting, the Yuendumu community have heard the final coronial assessment of the police shooting of 19-year-old Warlpiri- Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker in November 2019. Coroner Elizabeth Armitage travelled to Yuendumu to deliver the findings, detailed in a 683 page document which includes 32 recommendations. Speaking after Ms Armitage addressed the community, a member of Mr Walker's family, Samara Fernandez-Brown said it will take time for the family and community to process the findings. "We're all feeling really exhausted and quite overwhelmed, and there is so much that we need to go through. I don't want to make too much of a comment now because I want to understand what everything means before I'm going too far." On November 9 2019, Mr Walker was fatally shot three times during an attempted arrest by then Northern Territory police constable Zachary Rolfe. Following a six-week trial in 2022, Mr Rolfe was acquitted of all charges related to the shooting. A coronial inquest into Mr Walker's death was initially set for 3 months, but was marred by lengthy delays. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission, Katie Kiss says three years on, understanding the weight of the findings is to recognise the years of grief and trauma the community have experienced. "And that community there have been waiting for this coroner's report to be handed down for three years now. But they've been in a constant state of grief and trauma for six years since Kumanjayi's death. And with the most recent death of Kumanjayi White, they're kept in that constant state of trauma and grief now, waiting for the next coronial report to be handed down. So these coroners reports are significant. They are focused on reform and transformation of systems that hurt and harm people." Judge Armitage's report found Mr Walker's death was avoidable, and that the state's police force failed to protect the public through poor supervision and management of Mr Rolfe's use of force. It details at least five occasions prior to Mr Walker's death when Mr Rolfe used unnecessary force, and finds there were other occasions where force was avoidable. Speaking in Yuendemu, Ms Armitage said Mr Rolfe showed evidence of racist attitudes which were a part of a work environment that normalised racism. "I found that Mr Rolfe was racist and that he worked in and was the beneficiary of an organization with hallmarks of institutional racism. I'm satisfied that there is a significant risk that his racism, in combination with some of his other attitudes and values affected his interactions with the community of Yuendumu on the ninth of November, 2019, his entry into their houses and his perception of and response to the young Aboriginal man he shot and killed." The report's 32 recommendations for reform include an investigation into whether firearms should be worn in Aboriginal communities, and for the Northern Territory's anti-racism strategy to be strengthened and reports on compliance made public. "The NT Police Force must take steps through its training, supervision, culture, and leadership to ensure racist attitudes do not develop, and if they do, they are identified and corrected and are not tolerated or condoned." The Coroner also recommends that the Northern Territory Police should engage directly with Yuendumu leadership groups, and urges the state government to invest in diversion and rehabilitation programs. Ms Kiss says the Human Rights Commission supports this urgent call for more preventative measures to reduce young people's interactions with the criminal justice system. "In terms of them being in those institutions in the first place, we need to see the investment in early intervention and prevention that would prevent our people from being in those circumstances in the first place and at risk of being killed while they're in state care. Effectively, we need to invest in diversionary measures, alcohol and drug support and youth services in those communities." Speaking to ABC Radio, Northern Territory Labour MP Marion Scrymgour has said the Northern Territory government needs to take the recommendations seriously. "We've already started looking at some of those recommendations, but there are some very clear lines that have been drawn in the sand here, and I think that it is on the Northern Territory government that they need to come to the table, work with the community, work with the federal government to try and get a good pathway through." Ms Kiss says the government now has a responsibility to break a long pattern of inaction since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its recommendations in 1991. "Now since the Royal Commission, we've had 600 further deaths in custody and 13 of those just this year. So that means we've had, or we will have nearly 600 coronial findings and recommendations and conclusions made that again, will go on shelves and not get implemented unless government take action here."
ABC News
07-07-2025
- ABC News
Five key findings from the NT coroner's inquest into Kumanjayi Walker's death in police custody
In her 683-page report, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage made 32 formal recommendations for change, after an almost three-year coronial inquest into the police shooting of 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man Kumanjayi Walker. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family. This story contains racist and offensive language and images, as well as references to sexual assault. The coroner made findings about Kumanjayi Walker's upbringing in remote central Australia, plagued by poverty and health issues, as well as his struggle to cope at school, because of his disabilities. Mr Walker was deaf in one ear and was likely born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). "From the age of 13 to 18, Kumanjayi spent a considerable period of time in juvenile detention or under some restraint, such as bail or subject to a court order," Judge Armitage said. The coroner also explored Zachary Rolfe's background; his previous career in the military and prior uses of force. Through examination of his text messages, she found the use of racial slurs was "normalised" between officers. "The purpose of receiving this evidence was to investigate whether Mr Rolfe held racist views, what the consequence of those views might have been for his conduct on 9 November 2019, why he might have held those views and how they might be prevented in the future," she wrote. Here are five of the key findings in the report. Ultimately, Judge Armitage found Kumanjayi Walker's death was "avoidable" and the failed arrest of the 19-year-old was "a case of officer induced jeopardy". "[It's] an expression that describes situations where officers needlessly put themselves in danger," Judge Armitage wrote. The coroner found Mr Rolfe, "a very junior officer" did not prioritise safety in the arrest of a "vulnerable teenager", such as Mr Walker, and made a series of "flawed decisions that significantly increased the risk of a fatal interaction with a member of the public". Local Yuendumu Sergeant, Julie Frost, had devised a so-called "5am arrest plan", to effect a safe arrest of Mr Walker in the early hours of November 10, in the presence of a local officer who knew him. Mr Walker was wanted for allegedly breaching a court order, and days before his death, threatening two other police officers with an axe. But the coroner found Mr Rolfe "jettisoned" the 5am arrest plan — which Judge Armitage also found "was not without its weaknesses" — and substituted a "vastly inferior approach" which ended in Mr Walker's death. Judge Armitage found that she could not definitively rule that Zachary Rolfe's racist attitudes contributed to Kumanjayi Walker's death, however she also said it could not be ruled out. "That I cannot exclude that possibility is a tragedy for Kumanjayi's family and community who will always believe that racism played an integral part in Kumanjayi's death," Judge Armitage said. Judge Armitage said that Mr Rolfe's text messages provided evidence of his "derisive attitude to female colleagues and some superiors". She also noted that the messages revealed his "attraction to high adrenaline policing; and his contempt for 'bush cops' or remote policing; all of which had the potential to increase the likelihood of a fatal encounter with Kumanjayi". The coroner found his "unsavoury views" were consciously or unconsciously embedded in the decisions he made on the night Mr Walker was shot in Yuendumu. The inquest reviewed a string of previously unseen body-worn camera videos of arrests made by Mr Rolfe prior to Kumanjayi Walker's death. Some of them had been ruled inadmissible in the jury trial which acquitted the former officer of murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death. The coroner found, based on that evidence, there were at least five occasions that Mr Rolfe used "unnecessary force" and that he had a "tendency to rush into situations to 'get his man', without regard for his and others' safety, and in disregard of his training". "There were instances where Mr Rolfe used force without proper regard for the risk of injury to persons, all of whom were Aboriginal boys or men, and significant injuries were caused to suspects because of his use of force. "When this evidence is considered together with the contempt Mr Rolfe showed for the hands-off approach of Officers Hand and Smith on 6 November 2019 [when Mr Walker threatened them with an axe], it points to Mr Rolfe prioritising a show of force over potential peaceful resolutions," the coroner found. The coroner noted "disturbing evidence" that Mr Rolfe had, on several occasions, recorded and shared videos of his uses of force during arrests. "It is clear that a significant motivation for doing so was because he was proud of, was boasting about, and wished to be celebrated for, his physical feats of tactical skill or ability," the coroner wrote. Coroner Elisabeth Armitage said the evidence she gathered over almost three years showed that Zachary Rolfe was not a "bad apple", but instead "the beneficiary of an organisation with hallmarks of institutional racism". "To be clear, many of the police officers who gave evidence to the Inquest, impressed me as curious and culturally sensitive officers who had dedicated their working lives to serving the largely Aboriginal communities they were tasked to police," the coroner found. However, after a series of "grotesque" racist mock awards were revealed at the inquest — handed out at Christmas parties by the force's most elite tactical unit — the coroner found racism was widespread. "That no police member who knew of these awards reported them, is, in my view, clear evidence of entrenched, systemic and structural racism within the NT Police," she wrote. Just hours before Kumanjayi Walker was shot, Yuendumu's local nurses had evacuated the community, fearing for their safety after a string of break-ins at their living quarters. The coroner said she was not critical of their decision to leave, but made recommendations that NT Health improve its withdrawal processes, to make it clearer to community when staff intended to leave. With no nurses in the community, Kumanjayi Walker was taken to the police station after the shooting — where he died on the floor of a police cell after receiving first aid from the officers. "After Kumanjayi was shot, the fact that there was no operational local Health Clinic to treat him, exacerbated the trauma," the coroner wrote. "Despite the suspicion of some members of the community, there was no collusion or pre-planning between NT Health and NT Police concerning the withdrawal of clinic staff from Yuendumu. "To the contrary, there was a lack of communication between Health and Police and little awareness about what the other was doing in response to the apparently targeted break-ins." The coroner found by the time Kumanjayi Walker passed away on November 9 2019, the medical retrieval flight had not yet left Alice Springs. "In those circumstances, even if the clinic had remained open, there was no possibility of his survival." The inquest's findings and formal recommendations are available in full here.
