An Australian policeman accused of killing an Aboriginal prisoner was found not guilty yesterday after a racially charged trial in the northern state of Queensland.
An all-white jury found police sergeant Chris Hurley not guilty of killing Cameron Doomadgee, 36, whose death in custody in November 2004 sparked days of rioting in the remote indigenous community of Palm Island.
Hurley had pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and assault at the trial at the Queensland Supreme Court in Townsville, which has pitted police against Aborigines in the state.
Aboriginal activist Gracelyn Smallwood expressed disappointment at the verdict but said there should be no repeat of the violence that followed the death of Doom-adgee, who was also known by his tribal name Mulrunji.
She said the fact that Hurley had been brought to trial -- the first time a Queensland police officer has faced a jury over an Aboriginal death in custody -- was in itself an advance.
"Of course we wanted justice and we never got it," Smallwood told reporters outside the court.
"But we've had a win because the whole world is watching this country. We don't want any violence, we want peace and we want everybody to be monitoring the police department," she said.
Doomadgee was arrested for public drunkenness in November 2004 after verbally abusing police as he walked past a domestic dispute, and was found dead in his cell within an hour.
After his death, Palm Island residents torched the police station and the homes of the island's 14 police officers in a violent rampage that only ended when extra officers were flown in from the mainland.
The case caused outrage among Aborigines when prosecutors initially said there was not enough evidence to charge Hurley, despite evidence from the coroner that Doomadgee died when a blow left his liver "cleaved in two."
An independent review resulted in charges but police in Queensland said Hurley had become a political scapegoat, with officers threatening industrial action and many wearing blue wristbands in support of their colleague.
Prosecutors alleged that Hurley had performed a "knee-drop" to Doomadgee's torso, while the defense said the injury occurred accidentally when Hurley landed on top of the prisoner as they struggled in the doorway of a holding cell.
Queensland Police Union president Gary Wilkinson said Hurley had been through an ordeal but took strength from the support offered within his community and the police force.
"There will be no celebration, there are no winners," Wilkinson said. "The Doomadgee family and Chris and his family have endured a terrible ordeal since November 19, 2004."
Stewart Levitt, a solicitor with the Aboriginal legal group the Errol Wyles Foundation, said prosecutors appeared to have mounted a "minimalist" case against Hurley by not calling police and Aboriginal eyewitnesses to testify.
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