WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised the following article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died.
The coronial inquest into the death in police custody of a disabled Warlpiri man has been set for April next year.
The 24-year-old man, known as Kumanjayi White for cultural reasons, died on May 27 last year after being restrained by two plain-clothed Northern Territory Police officers inside a Coles supermarket in Alice Springs.
Earlier this year, on the first anniversary of his death, Northern Territory Police informed his family that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had recommended no charges be laid against the officers involved.
Queensland Police provided an "independent" use-of-force review, requested by Northern Territory prosecutors, which found the officers' actions were appropriate.
Despite initially understanding that the NT DPP had made the decision not to prosecute, the family's lawyers were told this year — only after launching proceedings in the Supreme Court — that the decision had in fact been made by NT Police.
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This week, the Coroner's office announced the four-week inquiry before Coroner Elisabeth Armitage would take place in Alice Springs between the 5th and 30th of April 2027.
Judge Armitage has overseen several inquests in the NT involving the deaths of Aboriginal people, including the death of Kumanjayi Walker, who was shot by then-police officer Zachary Rolfe in 2019.
Authorities have still not explained how Mr White — who was under state guardianship and living in supported accommodation — died after being taken into police custody. In May, Northern Territory Police Commissioner Martin Dole said the cause of death remained "equivocal".
Nevertheless, immediately after his death, police chose to highlight Mr White's alleged criminality without any chance of defending himself in court.
"We were very upset about how the Assistant Commissioner spoke negatively about our Jaja in the days after the incident," Mr White's grandfather and family spokesperson, Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, said earlier this year. "Very hurt and upset."
The officers involved were never stood down by NT Police, with one — NT Police prosecutor Steven Haig — continuing to accept briefs, including prosecuting Mr White's father by kinship, Martin "Isaac" Jabarula White, in August last year.
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