The Foundation takes its name from the case of 15 year-old Aboriginal boy, Errol Wyles Jnr, who was run over and killed by 20 year-old Scott Hasenkamp on 7 June 2003.
There is evidence to suggest that in the months leading up to Errol’s death, Hasenkamp, threatened to kill Errol, referring to his hatred of “niggers” and “coons” in that context.
In the early hours of 7 June 2003, Errol and his friends were riding their bicycles on the road outside the home where young White Townsville residents were partying. The offender, Hasenkamp, was a guest at the party and by all accounts, was angered by the presence of Errol and his friends in the vicinity. With four passengers in his car, Hasenkamp reversed out of the driveway of the party venue and drove towards Errol and his friends.
Witness Statements suggest that after stopping the car briefly, Hasenkamp looked over his shoulder, saw Errol through the rear windscreen, put the car into reverse gear and aimed the car directly at him. Errol made several attempts to avoid Hasenkamp’s car by running or jumping away from the vehicle’s path. However, each time Errol tried to avoid being hit, Hasenkamp steered the car towards him. Ultimately, Hasenkamp struck Errol with the rear of his car, ran over his body and then stopped momentarily on the side of the road with Errol lying underneath. There is evidence that Hasenkamp then drove forward over Errol before speeding away from the scene. Errol died at the side of the road.
The police did not tell his parents of Errol’s death for another two days.
A re-enactment of the events appears in “Black & White Justice”, screened on national television in Australia on 26 February, 2006 (see below).
Despite there being at least seventeen eyewitnesses providing statements substantially corroborative of the facts recounted, the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions considered it appropriate to charge Hasenkamp only with a traffic offence, namely, “Driving in a manner dangerous causing death”; a charge avoiding the question of whether Hasenkamp’s actions were deliberate and also operating to preclude the Wyles family from being able to make any claim against the Queensland Government for Victim’s compensation.
Hasenkamp pleaded guilty to the traffic charge and was sentenced to 15 months in prison, of which he served 11 weeks in custody and the balance on a WORC release programme in rural Queensland. He was released, a free man, on 26 June 2005.
On a pro bono basis, we became involved with the Errol Wyles case in June 2005. Since that time, we have worked intensely to seek redress for the Wyles family.
We enlisted the support and assistance of several prominent lawyers around the country, and as a collaborative effort, a detailed submission was drafted urging the Queensland Government to re-open the case, and to charge Hasenkamp with murder, or at the very least, manslaughter.
The Queensland Attorney General has not yet acted on our petition to reopen the case of the felonious killing of Errol Wyles Junior.
We procured the involvement of prominent Australian television journalist, Ross Coulthart, who produced a nationally broadcast documentary, entitled “Black and White Justice” which focused on Errol’s case and other similarly flagrant instances of prejudice and injustice in North Queensland, reflected in violent crimes against Aborigines going largely unpunished.
Through the course of investigating Errol’s death and acting on behalf of the Wyles family, we exposed the disturbing truth about the unjust treatment of Aborigines by the Queensland Government, particularly in its approach to the administration of criminal justice. It became clear that the Errol Wyles case was not an isolated incident but rather, an example of the systemic injustice still besetting Australia’s Indigenous people.
We discovered numerous instances of Aborigines being seriously assaulted, killed or raped by KKK-style gangs and that crimes inflicted against Aborigines were often not adequately investigated or prosecuted or when prosecuted, the prosecutions of White culprits were conducted perfunctorily.
Indeed, perhaps the most disturbing trend unearthed in our investigations was the fact that there was considerable evidence of members of the Queensland police turning a blind eye to crimes against Aborigines.
We established the Errol Wyles Justice Foundation to provide legal redress for Aboriginal victims of crime and injustice and to promote the equal protection and treatment of Aborigines under State and Federal law.
The “Black and White Justice” program can be accessed through the Foundation’s website: www.errolwyles.org, under “Media Coverage”.