JC shooting trial: Witness Leanne Espinos says Yamatji mother was ‘flailing arms’ before Geraldton incident

The security cameras which recorded the tragic moment an armed Aboriginal woman was shot by police didn’t always “register” movements and would sometimes skip milliseconds of vision, WA’s Supreme Court has been told. Yamatji mother-of-one JC died in hospital about an hour after she was shot in the stomach by a first class constable who was responding to reports there was a person carrying a knife wandering along Petchell Street in Geraldton on September 17, 2019. That officer is on trial for murder accused of using unreasonable force when he pulled out his gun and fired his weapon. Prosecutors claim the woman, who is known only as JC at her family’s request, had stopped and was not moving her arms in the seconds before she was killed. However the accused man, who we cannot name, claims JC had pointed the knife at him and that he was just doing what he was trained to do – to treat armed suspects as a lethal threat. The trial has so far been told the officer had only been at the scene for 16 seconds when the fatal shot was fired. It has also been shown CCTV of those chaotic moments. Leanne Espinos, whose security cameras recorded the incident, told the court today her system was not “top of the range” and didn’t always record every movement. She used the example of a person bouncing a ball explaining the cameras might record them in one spot and the next second they would appear in another. “The camera hasn’t always picked up how they got there,” she said. “They have moved but it hasn’t registered.” Ms Espinos also told the court that on the day of the shooting she was on the phone to her daughter outside her house when she heard police yelling at someone to drop a knife. And while she admitted she was distracted by the phone call, she said she kept watching, telling the jury she remembered seeing the woman’s arms “flailing” about. She said she saw the woman stop twice, once when the first set of officers arrived, and the second after more officers arrived. At that point she said the woman had stopped moving her legs but that her arms were still “definitely moving” adding they were swinging in an upward fashion. Her daughter Maree who was also home that day testified she had gone to the front door after hearing a 4WD idling outside her home. She said she then saw a woman walk by but only started paying attention after she saw a police van following them. “She was just walking up the road, she was really focused, head down, ignoring (them). I thought it was bit strange,” she said. Miss Espinos said she then heard one of the officer’s yell at JC to drop the knife. At that point, she said she became focused on JC and watched the incident unfold. She told the jury as JC walked up Petchell Street, she was swinging the knife almost in time with her stride and that she saw her stop to turn to face the officers who were yelling at her to drop the knife. However she could not remember if JC was moving in the second before she was shot. “She was still swinging her arms by her side,” she said. “I saw a change in her posture. I can’t say she stepped forward but she was about to. I then saw her fall backwards.” When asked further about the movement, Ms Espinos said it looked like JC was about to move forward but didn’t. Mark Lynch told the trial he was standing outside his home, chatting to his neighbour Paul when he heard police sirens in the distance, then saw a woman walking up the road with a knife. He said the next thing he saw were numerous police cars descend outside his house. He quickly jumped over his fence to his neighbour’s property where he said he saw two officers holding firearms. But he said he did not see the actual shooting because one of the police cars had blocked his view. The next thing he recalled was hearing a pop. Another witness, Stephen Wear, testified he heard JC telling police to leave her alone as she walked up the street and then become involved in a “screaming match” with officers moments before she was shot. However other witness, including all the police officers who were at the scene, have all said JC said nothing at all throughout the whole incident. The trial continues.