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David Gundy

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David John Gundy, an Aboriginal man aged 29, was shot dead by the Special Weapons and Operations Squad (SWOS) of the NSW Police, just before dawn on 27 April 1989. He was in bed in his house in Marrickville, Sydney. He was unarmed. His nine year old son was in the next bedroom.

Police were searching for another man, John Porter, who had shot at police, seriously wounding two officers. One of the police officers, 26 year old Alan McQueen, later died from his injuries.

His death was front page news in the Sydney Morning Herald, and then Police Minister Ted Pickering was criticised for saying “I am not about to second guess how police conduct their operations”.Sydney Morning Herald, 29 April 1989

Just after Mr Gundy’s death, on 1 May 1989, the NSW Ombudsman released a report in relation to an earlier incident involving a SWOS officer. The report recommended that procedures and instructions for SWOS in relation to arrest, interrogation and detention be reviewed immediately by the NSW Commissioner of Police. The SWOS officer who was the subject of this report was the also the officer in charge of the SWOS team which raided Mr Gundy’s house.[1]

The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody initially was prepared to address the case. However, a successful challenge was made to the Federal Court by the NSW Police Association, who argued the case was outside the Commission’s Terms of Reference as Mr Gundy wasn’t in police custody at the time of his death.[1]

This decision was later reversed after an appeal from his family. The Commission’s final report recommended that a death at the hands of the police should be classified as a death in custody regardless of its circumstances or location.[2]

In 1991, the Royal Commission’s found that the police raid on Mr Gundy’s home was unlawful. The Commission said “police had no legal right to be in his home at all, much less to point a loaded and cocked shotgun at him.”[3]

Police said that Mr Gundy was killed when the shotgun of one of the eight officers present, Sergeant Dawson, accidentally discharged during a struggle. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody found that Sergeant Dawson had no intention to injure Mr Gundy.

Commissioner Hal Wootten acknowledged that police were concerned to recapture John Porter. However, this led police to make “serious misjudgments and to treat SWOS guidelines, the Police Instructions and the law and its processes disdainfully”. The Commission found that the search warrant for Mr Gundy’s residence was rendered invalid “by the making of patently untrue statements”. Police had failed to follow the statutory restrictions applying to the warrant by executing the raid before 6am, had failed to announce themselves and to demand entry prior to entering by force.

In all, six houses were raided on the morning of 27 April in the search for John Porter. Commissioner Wooten was highly critical of the intelligence and surveillance which led to the raids. He said there was “no real evidence” that Porter would be at any of the six houses, and noted that NSW Police did not even know Mr Gundy was the occupier of his home.[4]

In 1992, a video surfaced of two NSW Police members filmed at a charity event in 1989. Wearing blackface, they mocked Mr Gundy and another Aboriginal men who died in custody, Lloyd Boney. The video provoked outrage around Australia and prompted then Prime Minister Paul Keating to suggest it was time for all Australians to re-examine their attitudes towards Aboriginal people. Keating said Australians should “decide to expunge racism from every corner of this country”.[5]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Aboriginal-Police Relations in Redfern: with Special Reference to the 'Police Raid' of 8 February 1990, a report commissioned by the National Inquiry into Racist Violence | Australian Human Rights Commission". humanrights.gov.au.
  2. "Aboriginal people feel under siege in their own homes". www.abc.net.au. November 14, 2019.
  3. Cunneen, Chris (July 1, 1991). "The Report of the Inquiry into the Death of David John Gundy, Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody". Current Issues in Criminal Justice. 3 (1): 143–147. doi:10.1080/10345329.1991.12036509 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
  4. "Cunneen, Chris --- "The Police Killing of David Gundy" [1991] AboriginalLawB 33; (1991) 1(50) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 13". www.austlii.edu.au.
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2_z9W6WnIY&feature=share+

David John Gundy[edit]


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