Coroner to hand down findings in inquest into Tanya Day’s death in police custody
The Coroner investigating the death in police custody of Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, will hand down her findings on 9 April 2020. The findings will be delivered via video link, five months after the coronial inquest concluded, and over two years since Tanya’s death.
Tanya Day’s family said:
“There will only be justice for our mum if the police involved in her death are criminally investigated and held accountable. We know that police targeted our mum for being an Aboriginal woman. We know that police ignored her in the police cell and left her to die on the floor. We know that the police officers’ decisions were infected with racism. We hope that the findings in our mum’s inquest will give us the truth and justice we need to move on.”
Tanya was a proud Yorta Yorta woman and much-loved sister, mother, grandmother and advocate. In December 2017, Tanya fell asleep on a train from Echuca to Melbourne. A V/Line conductor woke her up, described her as ‘an unruly Indigenous woman’ and called the police. Tanya was subsequently arrested for being drunk in a public place.
Tanya was then locked up in a police cell at the Castlemaine Police Station where she fell and hit her head on the wall of the police cell causing a brain hemorrhage. It was over three hours from the time Tanya had the fatal fall to when police entered her cell and called the ambulance.
At the time Tanya was arrested, Aboriginal women were close to 11 times more likely to be targeted by police for being drunk in public than non-Aboriginal women.
Aboriginal women continue to be over-represented in the criminal legal system and earlier this year, Yorta Yorta woman Veronica Nelson died alone in prison two days into 2020 after being arrested and refused bail for shoplifting.
Throughout the inquest, the Day family argued that the Coroner should:
Refer the police officers involved in their mum’s death to the Department of Public Prosecutions for criminal investigation.
Find that systemic racism was a cause of Tanya Day’s death, including through the actions of Victoria Police, V/Line and Ambulance Victoria officers.
Recommend that police stop investigating the actions of other police officers, particularly when it comes to a death in police custody.
“Hundreds of Aboriginal people have died in police custody, including our great uncle and our mum, but no police officer has ever been held criminally accountable. This is because a system that lets police investigate other police officers, essentially lets police off the hook. Unless the system changes, unless institutions are forced to deal with systemic racism, then more Aboriginal people will die in custody” said the Day family.
The Human Rights Law Centre represented the Day family in the coronial inquest into her death. This is the first case where a Coroner has looked at the role systemic racism played in an Aboriginal person’s death in custody.
Monique Hurley, Senior Lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“This case is a painful reminder that racism and detention are lethal. Tanya Day was locked up under discriminatory laws that should have been abolished decades ago. At every opportunity, police used their discretion against her. In this COVID-19 context where the Andrews’ Government is giving Victoria Police more and more powers, we must make sure there are safeguards in place so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are not over policed and that increased police powers do not lead to any more deaths in custody.”
READ: An overview of the coronial inquest into the death of Tanya Day
READ: An overview of the argument for systemic racism to be investigated in the inquest
Media contact:
Michelle Bennett, Communications Director, Human Rights Law Centre, 0419 100 519