Dear CJ,

"Should Criminal Charges Be Laid Over Mr Ward's
Death in Custody?"

Yes. Absolutely!

Plus, there should be a Royal Commission into why
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody are still happening in
WA. Something's not right in that State. John Pat died
in 1983 after being assaulted by the WA police.

What I don't understand is why did a respected Wongai Elder,
like Mr Ward need to be transported between Laverton and
Kalgoorlie (over a four hour drive) in a prison van where
the air-conditioning wasn't working, and where temperatures
inside the van reached over the 40 degree mark. Mr Ward was
arrested and charged with a minor alcohol related offence.
Why couldn't he have been brought up before a Circuit Judge
locally for such a minor offence?

Mr Ward died from heat stroke and burns. He was a 46 year old
man. It's a disgrace - and charges should definitely be
laid against thopse responsible or this sort of behaviour
will continue, as it has to date.

There is no excuse for deaths in custody today!
Had Mr Ward been white - this would never have happened.

Yes. Criminal charges should definitely be laid against the two guards who have now been sacked, and possibly also against the company.

There should have been an uproar at the time it happened. It was a bloody disgrace.

OUG, you seem to be missing one very important detail.
It was the drivers who were on the spot, who didn’t make scheduled stops, who didn’t check on their passengers welfare in obviously dangerous conditions, and who then, having found him in a terrible condition, DIDN’T OPEN THE GATE,BUT KEPT GOING!
They could have put him in the air-conned cab and transported him the rest of the way there, but didn’t.
Yes, the directors et.al. should also be held accountable, agreed, but the creeps in that van did what they did, and also must be held responsible.
I dislike passing the buck, by anyone, and you can’t make excuses for racist so&so’s like that and absolve them of all blame by passing it upwards.

Yes, manslaughter charges would be more than appropriate.

This was a blatant failure in duty of care given the harsh conditins in transporting someone in that heat over a long distance.

What were they thinking? Or not thinking as the case may be.

Maxi

Agreed, those S.O.B.s should be charged with manslaughter no doubt of it. I haven't even wanted to post here because it meant thinking of the suffering of Mr Ward and I find the thought extremely distressing.

However, the buck does not stop at the feet of the 2 men, their employer requires assessment as well.

Why was the air conditioner not working?

Why did the guards not follow procedure?

Why the 4 hour drive at all, for such a minor charge?

Who approved the transportation?

Who authorised that Mr Ward needed to be transported to another location?

Was there more profit to be made by the company by transferring Mr Ward to a larger facility?

Amen to the above posts.

I'd also add that this is what you get when Governments privatise services they really should be doing themselves. There is a role for the private sector, but there are always things that Governments do better and should take responsibility for. As the body responsible for incarcerating the man, the Government, has as it's duty of care, to make sure it doesn't contribute to any bad outcome. In this instance it badly failed.

Once the government officially or unofficially seeks the cheapest tender, they are heading down a slippery slope as there is an unwritten law that you get what you pay for - in this case, a bottom of the barrel service. Combined with the common stereotype of "he's only an Abbo, don't worry about it" etc, events conspired to cause the man's death because the guards couldn't even be bothered to stop and look in on him. The whole situation needs looking at including whether people should be jailed (and transported long distances) for being drunk in their car in the middle of nowhere. What was he going to run into? An anthill?