Latest news with #AboriginalDeathInCustody
News.com.au
16-07-2025
- News.com.au
Grim update after South Australian maximum security prisoner chewed off own finger
WARNING: Confronting details including self-harm A South Australian maximum security inmate has attempted to take his life behind bars less than a fortnight after it was revealed that he chewed off his own finger. Robert William Junior Barnes, 39, has spent more than 700 days isolated in G Division at Yatala Labour Prison — a place described by a former inmate as 'hell on earth'. exclusively revealed earlier this month that Barnes 'chewed off his pinky finger down to the knuckle'. The story cited two people who had spent time with Barnes in prison recently; Aboriginal elder Uncle Moogy Sumner and former Aboriginal Liaison Officer with SA Corrections Melanie Turner. Uncle Moogy told 'he chewed it right off'. The story led to a protest outside Yatala Labour Prison on Tuesday this week where advocates warned the status quo would lead to another Aboriginal death in custody. A text message sent by Barnes' sister on Tuesday this week, seen by reveals the Aboriginal inmate attempted suicide for what is reportedly at least the third time. 'Just got off the phone to Robbie and he cut into himself again,' Barnes' sister wrote to Ms Turner. 'He's being tormented (by) those correctional offices (sic). Robbie just said to me he needs to find something sharper, he doesn't wanna be in this world anymore. 'I tried to tell him to hang in there ... but my heart is just breaking.' The South Australian Department of Corrections is preventing Ms Turner and Uncle Moogy from visiting Barnes in G Division. Ms Turner resigned from her position after being prevented from visiting Barnes. In a letter to Corrections CEO David Brown, she wrote: 'I emailed my manager to request permission to enter G Division to meet with this prisoner, with whom I have established a good rapport, but I was denied.' 'This poor individual believes that (I have) abandoned him,' she wrote. Uncle Moogy told Barnes 'is in a bad way mentally' and was benefitting from his visits. 'He's got a lot of problems. If you're in jail, you're not there for being an angel,' Uncle Moogy said. 'But he's got problems because of how he was getting treated. 'I went up there to talk about culture, where he's from, the traditional ways. And I found out he's connected to my way, too,' he said. 'It was working out well. He enjoyed me going there, talking to him once a week. We're both connected to the Adnyamathanha people from the Flinders Ranges.' He was worried what Barnes would do after he stopped visiting. This week's suicide attempt has worried him further. A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections told on that Uncle Moogy 'is not banned from DCS sites, including Yatala Labour Prison'. But understands that does not include G Division where inmates are kept in solitary confinement. 'The Department continues to provide cultural and mental health support to identified prisoners in need across the system including at Yatala Labour Prison,' the spokesperson said. 'An offer to visit Yatala Labour Prison next week and meet with the Aboriginal Cultural Treatment Unit team, who support prisoners placed in the maximum-security unit, has also been extended to Major Sumner. 'The Department values the contribution Elders make to our prisons, including site visits. The safety of any visitor along with staff and prisoners is paramount when considering access, particularly to the state's high security prisons.' During a protest outside Yatala on Tuesday, advocates called for an end to 'human rights abuse' inside. 'Robert Barnes is being subjected to cruel and inhumane punishment, spending almost 800 days in solitary confinement,' a speaker said. 'Aboriginal prisoners are being denied cultural support when housed in solitary confinement.' They called for the General Manager of Yatala, Kit Wong, to 'be stood down immediately'. The crime that landed Barnes behind bars at G Division was a violent one that involved throwing a cup of urine in the face of a prison officer at Port Augusta prison in 2021. The Adelaide Advertiser reported last year that Barnes was jailed for over a decade after a brawl that left his victim in hospital suffering a fractured eye socket and requiring surgery. Less than a month while at the Adelaide Remand Centre, Barnes attempted to bite off his own finger before a corrections officer pinned his arms. Barnes punched him to the left side of his body and ear, causing it to bleed and yelled 'I'm going to f***ing bite your ear off'. He reportedly used a metal pipe from a vacuum cleaner to hit an officer over the head three times.
ABC News
02-06-2025
- General
- ABC News
Kumanjayi Walker inquest findings delayed after death in custody of another Yuendumu man in Alice Springs
The long-awaited coronial findings into the 2019 death in custody of Aboriginal man Kumanjayi Walker will be delayed by a month, after the death of another Warlpiri man in Alice Springs last week. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains names and images of people who have died, used with the permission of their family. Mr Walker, a 19-year-old Warlpiri-Luritja man, died in 2019, after he was shot by then-Constable Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the remote community of Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs. Mr Rolfe was later acquitted of murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death after a Supreme Court trial in 2022. A mandatory coronial inquest into the police shooting began in September 2022, examining the broad circumstances of Mr Walker's death. Coroner Elisabeth Armitage described some of the evidence she heard as "deeply disturbing", as the inquiry unveiled allegations of widespread, systemic racism within the NT Police Force. Her findings were due to be handed down in Yuendumu on June 10. However, the community was plunged into grief again last week, when 24-year-old Kumanjayi White — another Warlpiri man — died in custody in Alice Springs. Samara Fernandez-Brown, a prominent voice for Mr Walker's family and the 'Justice for Walker' campaign, said she was heartbroken and disgusted at news of another Aboriginal death in custody. "We have been in pain since 2019 and with Kumanjayi Walker's inquest coming to an end, we were looking forward to truly beginning our healing process," Ms Fernandez-Brown, Mr Walker's cousin, said in a statement. "This is gut-wrenching pain. It is sickening. The kind that stops you from eating and keeps you up at night. "I can't believe this has happened to another young Warlpiri man." Ms Armitage had been invited by members of Mr Walker's family to visit Yuendumu to hand down her findings. With the community again in sorry business — a period of mourning after the death of an Indigenous person — the court's visit has been delayed. Simon Fisher senior, a grandfather of both Mr Walker and Mr White, said "this is so much trauma for all of us". "Grandson was a funny young man, a funny little character," he said in a statement. Joyce Brown, an aunty of Mr Walker, said the fresh tragedy felt "so wrong". "We have so much pain, this has traumatised us all over again," she said. "We were just getting to the end of the inquest for Kumanjayi [Walker] after a really long time and now it will start all over again." The inquest findings will now be handed down on July 7 in either Yuendumu or Alice Springs, depending on the community's wishes.
