Aubrey Donahue’s mum’s anguish after police who shot son dead at Mareeba failed to wear cameras
The grieving mother of Aubrey Donahue, a man who was shot dead by specialist police at Mareeba, has demanded to know why officers failed to record video evidence of the deadly siege.
Cairns
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Family of the man fatally shot in the face by specialist police teams in March have demanded to know why SERT officers failed to record video evidence after it was revealed body-worn cameras had been issued prior to the incident.
Aubrey Donahue was shot dead by SERT officers during a four-hour siege after taking his partner hostage on March 25.
Police allege the 27-year-old Mareeba man advanced at officers with a steak knife while holed up in the bathroom of a Love St property.
Police claim the Mareeba woman who was inside with Mr Donahue was screaming for help before specialist officers stormed the bathroom and shot him four times.
But this has been disputed by Mr Donahue’s friends and family.
The family’s lawyer Dana Levitt argued during the lengthy siege, there were ample opportunities for police to negotiate with Mr Donahue and avoid the fatal shooting.
“Aubrey was on the phone to family members and was preparing to surrender and yet the SERT team still went in,” she said.
“SERT teams may be highly-trained but they were not the right people for the job.
“If you shoot someone in the face they are going to die.”
According to police, within six days of the shooting, body-worn cameras were in use by SERT officers after an original deadline of March 31 was for the implementation of a body-worn and vehicle-mounted camera trial was missed.
A Queensland Police spokesman confirmed cameras were delivered to Cairns SERT officers “shortly before” the Mareeba incident.
“The implementation process in respect of the use of body worn and vehicle-mounted cameras by SERT has been completed,” the spokesman said.
“SERT officers now utilise both body worn and vehicle-mounted cameras during their operations unless there are justifiable operational effectiveness or safety limitations.”
Mr Donahue’s mother, Desley Ketchup, said she didn’t accept the police version of events.
“They all had body cams, I reckon they did,” she said.
Deeply traumatised by the fatal shooting of her son, Ms Ketchup said she could not understand why she was not contacted to talk Mr Donahue down or why non-deadly force wasn’t attempted.
“Why didn’t they call me, I’m his mum. I would do anything for my kids,” she said.
“It was a small bathroom. The window to the bathroom was open. That was the opportunity they had to use the tasers.
“I can barely sleep. I can’t even think for myself, I don’t know what day it is because of this, it’s traumatising me in the head.”
Lack of vision showing the moment police shot Mr Donahue has drawn criticism of specialist police operations and a review of SERT’s failure to wear body-worn cameras has been promised.
Following a police admission there was no body-worn vision recorded at Love St, Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Wheeler said reasons for the absence of body-worn footage would form part of a coronial inquest.
“When we have a serious incident those matters do get reviewed and we’re now reviewing the arrangements for specialist police in terms of body-worn cameras,” he said.
The shooting – further fuelled by the arrest of twin brother Algen on the same night for unrelated matters – led to an outpouring of anger during a street protest in Mareeba immediately after the incident.
In the lead up to Mr Donahue’s funeral, which was livestreamed into the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre last week, prison staff were encouraged to wear civilian clothes while travelling to work and advised not to make stops enroute to the jail, according to insiders.
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