HORRIFIC new video footage of a seriously injured and shackled Aboriginal Taser victim howling in agony in a prison cell while surrounded by heavily armed officers has been revealed by a corruption watchdog.
The disturbing footage shows about a dozen officers, many in full riot gear, escorting Kevin Spratt in Perth's Casuarina Prison to the infirmary, where he lay naked on a mattress on the floor of a cell wailing in pain.
At one point a nurse is heard telling Mr Spratt: "You need to lie really still, otherwise everyone's going to jump on you, OK?" She later asks Mr Spratt if he has ever broken his arm. Mr Spratt's hands and feet are chained together and at one point he is heard screaming and saying, "My hand, my hand".
The 25-minute video was filmed by a Department of Corrective Services officer on September 6, 2008. Earlier that day, Mr Spratt had been tasered 11 times by specialised prison officers at Perth Watch-House during a "cell extraction".
A week earlier, Mr Spratt had been tasered 13 times by police at the watch-house and during the week from August 31, Mr Spratt was tasered 41 times.
The footage was played by Western Australia's Corruption and Crime Commission during public hearings yesterday. The watchdog is considering releasing it publicly but has concerns about witnesses viewing the footage before they give evidence and about Mr Spratt's privacy. The day after the video was filmed, Mr Spratt was taken to Royal Perth Hospital, where he was diagnosed with at least one rib fracture, a collapsed lung, a dislocated shoulder and fracture of the upper arm.
"How those injuries were sustained is yet to be determined," Peter Quinlan SC, counsel assisting acting commissioner Mark Herron, said yesterday.
"The videotape . . . indicates, at the very least, that some of those injuries, and I refer in particular to the injury of Mr Spratt's arm, were suspected at an early stage."
Yesterday, the officer-in-charge of the watch-house on September 6, Sergeant Nicholas Rowe, told the CCC that there had been no indication that Mr Spratt had injuries to his arms or shoulders when he was at the lock-up.
An Emergency Support Group prison officer involved in escorting Mr Spratt to the infirmary told the CCC yesterday he did not mention Mr Spratt's injuries in his report on the incident. The officer, whose name has been suppressed, agreed Mr Spratt's injuries were discussed with nurses.
The officer told the CCC Mr Spratt did not do anything in the back of the prison van on his way to Casuarina that could have caused injuries to his upper body.
The hearings continue.
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