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  • 2 months ago
More than a week since the tragic death of an Aboriginal mother at the Tennant Creek watch house, an autopsy had been unable to determine her cause of death. Lawyers for the woman's grieving family are concerned about the adequacy of conditions inside the Tennant Creek watch house after the NT government blocked access to UN inspectors. And a warning, this story contains the name of an Aboriginal person who has died.

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00:00Comanjai Dempsey, a much-loved mother of five who left north-west Queensland years ago for a new home in Tennant Creek.
00:10Remembered by loved ones as a hard worker and a devoted parent.
00:15Ten days after her death inside the Tennant Creek watch house, there's still no answers about how she died.
00:22While further testing is required to determine a formal cause of death,
00:25the current information suggests that the woman suffered a medical event alone in her cell.
00:31The 44-year-old was arrested for aggravated assault on Christmas Day and spent two days in the watch house.
00:38Police say she was found unresponsive during a routine check.
00:42Multiple sources say she suffered rheumatic heart disease.
00:46Police conducted a health check after her arrest where they say this wasn't flagged.
00:50Despite warnings in a coronial inquest and ombudsman reports,
00:55unlike Darwin and Alice Springs, no nursing staff work at the Tennant Creek watch house.
01:01In a statement, lawyers for her family say the government must be held accountable.
01:06Comanjai's death is particularly harrowing given the NT government's recent refusal
01:11to allow the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
01:14to conduct its scheduled inspection of Northern Territory detention centres, including watch houses.
01:20Months on from the death of Comanjai White in police custody,
01:24calls are again growing for an independent investigation.
01:28These are unfortunately the types of things that happen
01:31when we stretch our system beyond a breaking point.
01:34Police already rejecting those calls.
01:36I have full confidence in the detectives working this investigation
01:40and I have full confidence in the independent processes
01:43that already govern how police investigate death in custody matters.
01:48NT police have closed the crime scene as their investigation continues.
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