Family of Aboriginal woman shot dead by police in Geraldton speak ahead of coronial inquest
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name and image of an Indigenous person who has died.
Five years after a First Nations woman was shot dead on a suburban street in regional Western Australia, her family want the officer who pulled the trigger moved to a different beat.
In 2019, then-first class Constable Brent Mitchell Wyndham shot and killed the 29-year-old Yamatji woman, known for cultural reasons as JC, in Geraldton, about 400 kilometres north of Perth.
At the time, she was holding a 30 centimetre serrated edged knife and a pair of scissors it's believed she took from a relative's house earlier that day.
Constable Wyndham was charged with murder over JC's death, but a jury found him not guilty of both murder and manslaughter following a three-week trial in 2021.
He had been the first WA Police officer to face the accusation in the line of duty in almost 100 years.
The inquest into the shooting of JC begins in Geraldton this week. (Supplied)
During his trial, Constable Wyndham gave evidence JC had jerked the hand holding the knife towards him and he thought she was about to stab him when he shot her once in the abdomen.
"She raised the knife up at me, … and her body came towards me and I just shot," he told the court at the time.
Following the not-guilty verdict, family and advocates said it was systemic failure that led to JC being on the street that day — after she was released from prison two weeks prior to her death without mental health or housing support.
JC's son with her foster mother Leslie Anne Jones. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)
JC's foster mum, Anne Jones, had raised her since she was a baby.
She is now raising JC's son, who was just six years old when his mum died.
"JC's 11-year-old son has been very badly impacted by the senseless death of his mother," Ms Jones said.
"He carries a lot of anger, confusion and fear about the death of his mother at the hands of WA Police."
Sixteen seconds under the microscope
Mr Wyndham, now a Senior Constable, was one of eight police officers who responded to a call from a member of the public saying JC was walking along a street with a knife and a pair of scissors.
Constable Brent Wyndham is the officer who fatally shot JC. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Constable Wyndham was the only officer to draw his gun.
He gave evidence he did so because he was concerned another officer was in danger and said it had been "drilled into him" that edged weapons posed a lethal threat.
"It can kill," he told the court.
He fired 16 seconds after getting out of his vehicle.
Ms Jones believes Senior Constable Wyndham, who still works in an operational role in Geraldton, should have been assigned to a different area in WA after the shooting.
"The fact that members of JC's family have to see Brent Wyndham still walking around Geraldton with a gun on his hip is appalling," Ms Jones said.
The scene at the time of JC's death in suburban Geraldton. (ABC News: Zachary Bruce)
"Why is this police officer still in a position of power over our family in Geraldton?"
WA Police commissioner Col Blanch said there had been an internal investigation into officer Wyndham.
"I understand there were some findings that resulted in some disciplinary action," the Commissioner said.
But he declined to detail what that action was.
Col Blanch says there had been an internal investigation into Brent Wyndham. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
The acquitted officer's identity was suppressed until a Supreme Court Judge lifted the order in May, following calls from JC's family for him to be named.
Constable Wyndham's identity was made public ahead of a coronial inquest into JC's death which will start on Monday.
State coroner Ros Fogliani will oversee two weeks of hearings, with the first week scheduled to take place in Geraldton, followed by a week in Perth.
The first week of a coronial inquest into JC's death will take place in Geraldton. (ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt: Chris Lewis)
Because JC's death was the result of a police shooting, a coronial inquest is mandatory, and a hearing is scheduled to begin in Geraldton tomorrow.
In some cases, a coroner may comment and make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths from happening in the future.
Family's last hope for answers
Ms Jones said the inquest was their last hope for answers and accountability.
She hoped WA Police policies around arresting First Nations people would be investigated as part of that process.
"The use of a powerful firearm on an Aboriginal woman who was known to the police arresting her to have a history of mental illness is a disgrace for the state of WA," Ms Jones said.
"He had a taser on his belt — why didn't he use that before he shot her with such a powerful gun?"
Constable Wyndham gave evidence at the trial that he did not know JC's identity when he shot her.
He told the trial he had attended to back up another unit responding to a report of a man armed with a knife on a suburban street.
Constable Wyndham's acquittal sparked protest rallies in Perth and Geraldton. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)
Another officer on the scene, Adrian Barker, did recognise JC, as he had previously responded to a welfare check when she called police seeking mental health support.
But none of that was communicated in the 16 seconds between Constable Wyndham leaving his vehicle and discharging his gun.
He told the court he drew his gun in the first place because Barker was "making a beeline" for JC.
Family and friends of JC outside the Supreme Court in Perth in October 2021. (AAP: Richard Wainwright)
At Constable Wyndham's 2021 Supreme Court trial, an expert gave evidence that police use-of-force protocols allowed for a taser or gun to be discharged when an officer reasonably suspected there was an imminent threat of grievous bodily harm from an offender.
The expert told the court that tasers only worked around 60 per cent of the time.
Under WA Police's use-of-force policy in place in 2019, the court heard officers had discretion as to what option they chose to deploy.
Constable Wyndham told the court that JC was wearing baggy clothing and he was conscious that tasers needed to make contact with someone's skin to cause intramuscular contractions.
He said he was also conscious tasers take time to reload.
"That … would place myself and Senior Constable Barker at too much risk," he said.
Ms Jones wanted Constable Wyndham to explain his actions to their family.
"For any good to come of her death, officer Wyndham needs to explain himself, and changes need to be made to the way WA Police arrest Aboriginal people," she said.
Allegations of systemic racism
Noongar lawyer and human rights advocate associate professor Hannah McGlade hoped the coroner would look beyond the use of force to examine what she said was systemic racism within policing.
Dr McGlade says issues in the police force about the treatment of Aboriginal people are not being addressed. (ABC News: Dominic Briggs)
"Because we know that Aboriginal people are dying as a result of these issues and these behaviours and these prejudices, and they are simply not being addressed," Dr McGlade said.
A WA Police spokesperson said it would be inappropriate to comment ahead of the coronial inquest, but it would consider the coroner's findings when they become available.
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