Funeral service for police shooting victim Aubrey Donahue
Wearing shirts emblazoned with “Justice 4 Aubrey” and “Black Lives Matter: In loving memory of Aubrey,” up to 300 people packed a Mareeba church to farewell a 27-year-old man who was shot dead by police in March.
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A large crowd has arrived at the Royals Church to pay final respects to well-known Mareeba man Aubrey Donahue.
Mourners packed the church for a heartfelt service following the shooting death of Mr Donahue last month.
Wearing shirts emblazoned with “Justice 4 Aubrey” and “Black Lives Matter: In loving memory of Aubrey,” up to 300 people packed the church and up to another 200 joined the lifestream online.
There was a sombre mood throughout the crowd during the eulogy.
A previously seething Mareeba Indigenous community appeared to have softened since angry protests through the main street in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Mourners came from across Australia, including Sydney, Palm Island and Doomadgee and many more messages of condolence were sent from Cape York Indigenous communities.
Close family member Petrina read a collection of tributes from Mr Donahue’s mother Desley Ketchup, twin brother Algen, sister Claudette, Doreen, Renal and Rhiannon.
“The day we heard the news on bended knees we cried out why this has happened to you?” a message from Ms Ketchup was read to the crowd.
“I loved you from the time you was born. And I love you more today. It will be hard to say goodbye but its only for a while, so walk slowly down that golden path we will soon catch up.”
“Our hearts still ache in sadness, what it means to lose you no one will ever know,” read one message from the Melbourne family.
“It broke our hearts to lose you. You are still our guide though we cannot see you. You are always our family and now our chain is broken,” read another message from the Douglas family.
Outside the church Nathaniel Rogers said inter-family rivalry leading up to the shooting had been put to rest as the Mareeba Indigenous community united behind a call for justice.
“Before this stuff happened there was a bit of wild trouble between family and family in Mareeba,” he said.
“Something happened to one of our Indigenous and it brought us all together.”
Close family friend and elder to Mr Donahue, Frank Banjo, travelled from Doomadgee to pay his respects.
He said though the shooting was tragic Mr Donahue’s death had catapulted the issue of deaths in custody and police violence back onto the national agenda.
“Leaving it behind closed doors is not the way, we need to be speaking about this stuff,” he said.
“He had a lot of respect in the community and he’s only a young fella and shouldn’t have been treated like that, that's why so many have come to support him and his family.
“You just can’t go around and shoot someone. It’s happening everywhere and it needs to stop.”
Following the service the funeral procession was given priority by police who blocked roads and directed traffic before mourners attended an internment at Mareeba Cemetery.
Mr Donahue died following a four-hour siege at a Love Street address on Saturday, March 25.
Police attended following reports the man threatened self-harm. It’s alleged Mr Donahue was not allowing another occupant of the house, his girlfriend, to leave.
When specialist officers entered the house, they fatally shot Mr Donahue after police allege he was armed with a knife and advanced on the officers.
CPR was performed but Mr Donahue could not be revived.
The community was in unrest in the days after the shooting; police officers were verbally abused and objects thrown at their cars when they left a community meeting the following day.
The unrest continued when Mr Donahue’s twin brother Algen was released from custody.
He joined hundreds of people on the streets of Mareeba to protest his brother’s death.
The crowd waved signs that read “stop killing us” and “black lives matter” while slamming fists into road signs, throwing bottles, and spitting at the feet of police officers stationed along the route.
At the time Desley Ketchup, the mother of Aubrey Donahue, demanded justice and that the officer responsible be investigated.
“This is traumatising me,” she said.
“I want answers, just give me the answers. I want justice, that’s all I want.”
According to uncle Adam Turner, Aubrey was close to his family.
“He was always watching out for his mum and they watched out for each other, the two brothers,” he said.
“Aubrey didn’t want to go to jail, I know that much.”
The Mareeba musician said the shooting could have been avoided if dealt with by officers that had a personal relationship with Mr Donahue.
“If it was the Mareeba police, it never would have happened because they know him,” he said.
“The TRG came up here from Brisbane and they don’t know anybody and probably don’t even know any blackfellas and they were probably s---ing themselves, because Aubrey is a big guy.”
Police have promised a full and independent investigation into the shooting, which is being conducted by Ethical Standards Command on behalf of the State Coroner, with oversight from the Crime and Corruption Commission.
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Originally published as Funeral service for police shooting victim Aubrey Donahue
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