The coronial inquest into the death in police custody of Yorta Yorta woman, Tanya Day, will hear final arguments today. The Day family are calling for the police to be held accountable. 

Tanya Day’s family said: 

“We know that our mum died in custody because police targeted her for being drunk in public and then failed to properly care for her after they locked her up. We know that racism was a cause of our mum’s death. Both individual police officers and Victoria Police as a whole must be held to account. Without accountability, more Aboriginal people will die in custody.”

In their submissions ahead of today’s hearing, the Day family argued for three main things: 

1. For individual police officers to be held accountable through a criminal investigation.

2. For Victoria Police, V/Line and Ambulance Victoria to be held to account through a finding that systemic racism was a cause of Tanya’s death.

3. For a recommendation that police stop investigating other police.

In 2017, Tanya Day fell asleep on a V/Line train on her way to Melbourne. Despite causing no disturbance, she was woken and then arrested for being drunk in a public place. At the time Tanya Day was arrested, Aboriginal women were around 10 times more likely to be targeted by police for being drunk in public than non-Aboriginal women.

While in custody, Tanya fell and hit her head on the wall of the police cell. The police officers responsible for Tanya’s care failed to follow procedure and properly check on her wellbeing, leaving Tanya injured on the cell floor for over three hours. When the police officers finally called Ambulance Victoria, they provided an inaccurate description of Tanya’s injuries and fall. Tanya later died from a brain haemorrhage.

“It is clear to us that the investigation into our mum’s death has been flawed and inadequate. This is because police should not be investigating police. What we now want is a criminal investigation. We want to know whether the police who should have cared for mum, committed an offence in denying mum her dignity and ultimately, her life,” said Tanya Day’s family.

Ruth Barson, Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, who is representing the family, said governments must put an end to police violence.

“No police officer has ever been held criminally responsible for an Aboriginal person’s death in custody. The status quo of police investigating themselves and dodging accountability for Aboriginal people dying in their care must end. For as long as governments allow police to act with racism and impunity, deaths will continue.” 

A copy of the submissions that Tanya Day’s family filed with the Coroners Court are available here.

Read a statement from the Day family here.

Media contact:
Michelle Bennett, Human Rights Law Centre, 0419 100 519