Alcohol returned to Aurukun man who planned to take rum into dry community

A man who told police he was planning to take a box of alcohol with him into a dry Indigenous community has won an appeal against his conviction, and will have his 12 bottles of Bundaberg Rum returned to him.

AN AURUKUN man who told police he was planning to take a box of alcohol with him into the dry Indigenous community has won an appeal against his conviction, and will have his 12 bottles of Bundaberg Rum returned to him.

The Cairns District Court heard how at 4pm on December 30, 2020, police were patrolling in Weipa when they stopped a four-wheel drive in which Aelan Henry Woolla was travelling.

After speaking with the driver, who said he intended to travel to Aurukun, police through the window saw a wine box with a sheet over it and searched the vehicle.

The police officer found several bottles of rum in the box and others secreted in the engine bay.

When asked why he was taking the rum back to Aurukun, Mr Woolla said it was for the anniversary of his son.

Police found bottles of Bundaberg Rum in the vehicle.

Mr Woolla’s son was murdered on New Year’s Day 2020 in an alcohol-fuelled altercation that sparked the infamous Aurukun riots.

After a trial in the Magistrates Court at Weipa on March 22, 2021, Mr Woolla was convicted and fined $600 for attempting to bring liquor into a restricted area and the alcohol was forfeited.

He appealed on the basis the verdict was unreasonable and could not be supported having regard to the evidence.

Cairns District Court Judge Tracy Fantin in a decision published this month found the evidence was not capable of establishing an attempt to enter the restricted area, as opposed to mere preparation.

Being as he was 200km from Aurukun in a car he was not driving, on a day where the weather was bad and there was a concern that the road into Aurukun might have been impassable, Judge Fantin said the “acts relied upon lacked the requisite immediacy with entry to the restricted area to constitute the offence”.

She allowed the appeal and set aside Mr Woolla’s conviction and the alcohol forfeiture order.

Originally published as Alcohol returned to Aurukun man who planned to take rum into dry community