JC inquest: Policeman says Yamatji woman was not an ‘imminent’ threat to police when they arrived at the scene

The policeman who was first to speak to Yamatji woman JC before she was killed by his comrade has told a coroner that she was not an imminent threat in the moments before she was shot. Sen. Const. Kenneth Walker and Const. Lucinda Cleghorn were in a car together when they found JC, a 29-year-old woman who was shot while carrying a knife and a pair of scissors in the Geraldton suburb of Rangeway on September 14, 2019. They were two of eight officers who arrived at the scene in response to reports of a person being armed on the street. First Class Const. Brent Wyndham had rushed towards JC, pulled his gun and fired within 16 seconds of arriving in an unmarked police car. The mother of one was known by police and had complex mental health and substance abuse issues. He was the first policeman to be charged with murder in WA in almost a century. He was later acquitted after a trial in 2021. A two-week coronial inquest examining the circumstances of JC’s death and attempts by police officers to de-escalate the situation is in its second day in Geraldton. Sen. Const. Walker, who was the first officer to communicate with JC, gave his evidence on Tuesday. His first contact with JC was when he called out “oi” from the driver’s seat of the car. He then commanded her to “drop the knife” before more officers arrived and intervened. State Coroner Ros Fogliani asked Sen. Const. Walker whether shouting “oi” had escalated or de-escalated the situation, and whether he thought it might have angered JC or heightened her emotions. Sen. Const. Walker said it de-escalated the situation because he was trying to get her attention. He disagreed JC may have felt surrounded or terrified by police before she was shot. Sen. Const Walker told the court that JC was not an immediate threat to police when police were inside their vehicles. “She was a risk to people but not an imminent threat,” he said. Sen. Const. Walker was asked if he thought other officers could have done anything differently. He said if former police officer Adrian Barker did not get so close to JC it “might have helped”. The inquest will investigate the adequacy of police policies and training related to dealing with Aboriginal people and people with substance abuse issues, as well as the adequacy of mental health care JC received leading up to her death. Availability and adequacy of health care services in Geraldton for Aboriginal people or people with substance abuse issues in Geraldton will also be considered. The officer was asked if 44 seconds was enough time for a person in distress to respond rationally to police commands. “In that 44 seconds there were a lot of commands given, I would have thought that was enough time to respond,” he said. Ms Fogliani wanted to know if Sen. Const. Walker thought video communication with a psychologist or another clinician during the confrontation could have guided police. He agreed a clinician could have provided directions to police if contact was made quick enough. His partner on the night, Sen. Const. Cleghorn on Monday told the inquest she did not believe the post Aboriginal cultural or mental health training she received after the night of JC’s death would have changed the outcome. Sen. Const. Walker, who has been a policeman for 22 years, told the court he could not remember taking any Aboriginal cultural training, or training around dealing with people with mental health issues before JC’s death. He agreed there was nothing in the follow up training that would have changed what happened on the night of JC’s death. “(There was) nothing I could have done extra in that point of time,” he said. Sen. Const Edward Cooney and Sen. Const. Bryan Bird also gave evidence on Tuesday. Sen. Const Cooney arrived at the scene in the same car as Const. Wyndham, and administered CPR on JC after the shooting. Const. Cooney said he did not use his training on how to deal with vulnerable people on the day of JC’s death because all actions he took were the same as he would take for any situation. He said “there is nothing in there that’s actionable” when asked whether the Aboriginal cultural training course would help. Both officers said they would not change their actions that day with the benefit of the Aboriginal cultural training course. The inquest continues.