ABORIGINAL and community legal services have written to federal and Northern Territory government ministers calling for an urgent independent investigation into the death in custody of Terrance Briscoe.
Mr Briscoe, a 28-year-old Anmatyerre man, died in the Alice Springs Watchhouse on January 5 after being arrested for drunkenness. Before his funeral yesterday, Mr Briscoe's sister Louise Daniels, 33, said her brother was a happy man whose girlfriend was pregnant at the time of his death.
"My brother told me that she was pregnant and she was going to have a baby for him, and he was really happy and proud," she said at the St Mary's town camp near Alice Springs where her brother lived. "He wanted a boy."
At his funeral, Pastor Basil Schild said: "There are many difficult deaths in Alice Springs and many people die too young." He said Alice Springs needed peace and reflection.
Mr Briscoe was discovered unconscious in his cell during a routine check just after 2am on January 5 and later pronounced dead at Alice Springs Hospital.
Police have said he suffered a fall and sustained an injury to his head, but two people arrested with him have claimed he was bashed by police on the night he died. A preliminary autopsy handed to the family did not show any signs of violence or physical abuse.
The death is being investigated by NT Coroner Greg Cavanagh, but in concerns that mirror
those of Amnesty International, Aboriginal and community legal services said the collection of evidence and witness statements should not be left in the hands of NT police.
"Police at first claimed a heart attack and later a lung complication," they wrote in the letter to federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and Northern Territory Attorney-General Daniel Knight.
"It is clear that he sustained injuries in custody and that the police failed to arrange medical assistance. His family has claimed that he was assaulted by police four weeks before his death."
Signed by lawyers at Aboriginal and community legal services, under the banner of the National Police Accountability Network, the letter said Mr Briscoe's death highlighted the failure to implement recommendations of the Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission 20 years ago.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP
