REPORT OF COURT DECISION The two day hearing of charges arising out of the Cessnock Jail visit by the Freedom Ride ended on Wednesday 25/7/01 in the Cessnock Local Court. The charges were brought against Brett Collins who, accompanied by a fifteen year old visually impaired girl, went on a prearranged visit to talk with prisoners about the need to change the drug laws. Brett had announced their visit with a megaphone, when they were stopped. He was surrounded by five prison officers elbow distance away, with his back to his van. They said he pushed one prison officer in the chest with his elbow and they then grabbed him. Three or four prison officers handcuffed him behind his back, forced his face into the ground to "stop him being abusive", put their legs and knees on his back with handcuffs pulled up behind his back for forty minutes until the police arrived. Magistrate Elliot acquitted Brett of biting (!!) prison officer Smith. None of Smith's prison officer witnesses supported him - none said they saw Brett bite him or any blood or the "fairly deep laceration" Smith described. In fact Smith bit himself in front of all present when Brett pointed out that they had no excuse for attacking and injuring him, and they were in deep trouble. Unbelievable but true. To their credit Smith's fellow officers didn't support him. Local magistrate Elliot (ex-policeman we are reliably informed) found Brett guilty of attempting to unlawfully communicate with Cessnock prisoners and fined him $400. This was despite disagreement amongst the prosecution witnesses whether the words addressed prisoners or the public generally. Also it was accepted that the words used could have been said on a visit and wouldn't be objected to! This reflected the contrived case which began as "unlawful entry" until they discovered that a visit had been arranged, and then changed to "unlawfully communicate with". Magistrate Elliot also found proven that Brett had assaulted the officers when they surrounded him beside his van. At the prosecution best, he pushed one away with his elbow, and according to the officer who complained, "could possibly have been trying to get his balance" when Brett's leg connected twice with his knee. Elliot didn't convict but put Brett on a good behavior bond for a year. The worst accusation against Brett is that he dared to try to talk with prisoners as a group about the drug laws. For that he was confronted by five uniformed men on the road to the jail, and badly beaten up. The record is partially on video tape and now in evidence. An appeal to the District Court will be lodged. Visitors already feel under seige going into jails. This is a clear obstruction to community support for prisoners. The thuggery exhibited by this case, and sanctioned by the local court will not be tolerated. Justice Action 19 Buckland St, Chippendale, NSW 2008, Australia P.O. Box 386, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: 61-9281-5100 fax: 61-9281-5303 Please log into the Justice Action Web site, designed and sponsored by Breakout Design & Print, exercising good corporate citizenship: http://www.justiceaction.org.au -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
