WA corrective services top official Christine Ginbey accuses Coroner Philip Urquart of bias during Cleveland Dodd inquest

Two months after she appeared as a witness, Christine Gibney’s lawyer has called on the coroner investigating 16-year-old Cleveland Dodd's death to stand down. She's accused Coronor Philip Urquhart of "apprehended bias", claiming his line of questioning unduly focused and cast blame on her. Ms Ginbey's new legal counsel, Grant Donaldson SC, took more than four hours to detail his criticisms of the Coroner. He said the line of questioning about the covering up of CCTV cameras on the night the teenager self-harmed inside Unit 18 sought to cast blame on his client Coroner Urquhart vehemently disagreed and said it was his job to ask such questions. When Ms Ginbey gave evidence in August, she acknowledged inaccuracies in communications produced about the opening of Unit 18, and in one case, contained a lie. Today, Mr Donaldson said the questioning of Ms Ginbey about the the operating manual of Unit 18, was unfair. He said the cross examination amounted to"...bullying the witness and we don't shy away from that characterisation." The timing of Ms Ginbey's application has caught all parties by surprise, with the final stages of the Cleveland Dodd inquest scheduled for Monday. Mr Donaldson said if the Coronor wouldn't recuse himself, at the very least, he should have nothing more to do with Ms Ginbey. Steven Penglis SC, the counsel representing Cleveland Dodd's mother, Nadene, addressed the 18 matters brought up by Mr Donaldson... labelling several as "nonsense" and an attack on the court, the coroner and counsel assisting. "There is no explanation as to why this application was not foreshadowed earlier" he said. "They didn't complain about most of these matters at the time." After a daylong direction hearing, Coroner Urquhart told the court he would make his ruling on the application as the first order of business on Monday.