Alarming footage has emerged of a watch house officer making disturbing comments to an Indigenous teen, which have sparked outrage.
A formal investigation continues into the early morning exchange that took place at an ACT watch house following the Indigenous boy’s arrest in June 2024.
In the footage played during an ACT Supreme Court hearing earlier this year, an officer who was off-camera, asked the teen: ‘Are you thinking of necking yourself?’.
When the boy replied ‘no’, the officer was heard muttering: ‘You wouldn’t have the guts to do it anyway.’
The watch house CCTV also showed several officers standing behind the teen – none of whom made the offensive comments – who appeared to smirk during the exchange.
The same sergeant later asked the teen, who was living in foster care, if he had any parents.
‘Nah,’ the teen replied.
‘No parents? You just magically appeared on the face of the Earth?’ the sergeant said condescendingly.
CCTV captured the moment a watch house officer asked an Indigenous teen if he would ‘neck himself’
Other vision showed the teen arrested by police before being grilled in the watch house
The court was also played a series of other clips from the vision, including the moment the teen was later tasered and pinned down in a watch house cell.
The judge referred the vision to the territory’s Chief Police Officer Scott Lee, the Canberra Times reported.
Indigenous leader Jordan Hindmarsh-Keevil recently took to social media to express his outrage about the incident.
‘I hate making videos about negative things, but this is f***ing very important because I bet you didn’t hear about it,’ he said in a video posted to social media.
‘Although this video might make you angry, I do not mean to divide anyone. All I want from this is for people who believe that Australia is not a racist country – those people say so because it doesn’t say it legally anywhere.’
Mr Hindmarsh-Keevil claimed the ‘treatment is not a one-off’, claiming ‘this happens all the time’.
‘This officer looked at a 17-year-old boy and he said ‘are you thinking about necking yourself?” he said.
‘Two of the other coppers who were standing next to this man started smirking and smiling. And this officer had already mocked this kid for not having parents because he was in foster care.’
Indigenous leader Jordan Hindmarsh-Keevil recently took to social media to express outrage about the incident
‘I am angry at the police that did this, but I’m angry that this type of hatred towards other people exists.’
ACT Chief Police Officer, Scott Lee described the officer’s actions in the footage as ‘unacceptable and will not be tolerated’.
‘I hold everyone in ACT Policing to high standards of professionalism and integrity, as do our officers, and this is in line with community expectations,’ Mr Lee said.
‘The comments of the officer during a Watch House intake in 2024 are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
‘It falls well below the standards expected of our officers and was dealt with swiftly after the incident occurred with the matter currently being investigated by AFP Professional Standards.’
He added that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted ACT Policing for further comment.
Venessa Turnbull-Roberts, Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children said the incident was ‘abhorrent misconduct’.
Another clip from the vision showed the Indigenous boy pinned to the ground by officers in a watch house cell
‘In the context of the horrifying and ongoing epidemic of Aboriginal deaths in custody in this jurisdiction and across Australia, this comment can be seen as a deliberate incitement to an Aboriginal child to end his life,’ she claimed.
‘What is even more horrific is the young person is a survivor of forcible removal … the police interrogation used against this young person by police is shameful.’
Suicide rates have risen over the past decade to 2023, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) mortality report.
Between 2019 and 2023, suicide was the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, according to that same report.
It equates to nearly a quarter of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s deaths.
For confidential 24-7 support in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.
