Northern Territory police are investigating a death in custody, after a woman was found unconscious in her cell at the Tennant Creek Watch House yesterday afternoon. Police say they conducted CPR but she was later declared dead at Tennant Creek Hospital, the cause of death yet to be determined.
00:00Another death in custody, this time in Tennant Creek.
00:06A 44-year-old Indigenous woman arrested on Christmas Day and taken to the town's police watch house.
00:13Less than 36 hours later, shortly after 1pm Saturday, she was dead.
00:19We reviewed the CCTV and at 12.34 she was in the cell alone and was seen to fall to the ground.
00:27At this stage, we believe it's a medical episode but we won't have a post-mortem conducted until later on in the week.
00:35Police say a health check was conducted when she arrived at the watch house and there were no signs of injury.
00:41Most watch houses in the NT have a custody nurse who can access real-time health information when people are taken into custody.
00:50But in Tennant Creek, that's not the case.
00:53More than 30 years after the 1991 Royal Commission, Aboriginal deaths in custody are now at their highest level for decades.
01:02This year in May, the death of 24-year-old Kumanjai White in Alice Springs sparked an outpouring of grief in vigils and rallies across the country.
01:12In Tennant Creek today, heightened tension.
01:16I have heard in Tennant Creek that there are a couple of people that are obviously angry and frustrated.
01:22NT Police quick to defend their in-house investigation.
01:26I have no issues with it. We investigate our own all the time. We're very good at it.
01:31And, you know, people talk about conflicts all the time but we legislate it to do it and we do it very well.
01:37Police say a post-mortem should be ready before the end of the week, which will determine any next steps.
01:44Police say a post-mortem should be ready before the end of the week.
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