Warning: this report contains the name and image of a deceased Indigenous person, with her family’s permission.
Western Australia’s chief coroner has found a police officer who shot and killed an Indigenous woman on a Geraldton street in 2019 “acted too hastily” and escalated a situation which was preventable.
Yamatji woman JC, 29, died after she was shot in the stomach at close range by Brent Wyndham after her family had called police to report concerns she was wandering around, dazed and carrying a large knife and a pair of scissors.
Yamatji woman JC. This photo has been published with the permission of her family.Credit: Facebook
Wyndham, a first class constable at the time, was one of the most junior officers who attended the scene and the only one who drew his gun towards the mentally unwell woman. He was charged with murder, but was acquitted after going to trial in 2021.
He told the jury in his trial that JC had turned and “squared off” to him in a “fighting stance” while she was around four metres away.
“She was going to attack me ... she raised the knife up and her body has come forward like she was going to lunge at me and I just shot her.”
A coronial inquest into the death, heard in both Geraldton and Perth, found JC did not lunge at Wyndham, nor step towards him, but there was likely movement of her arm that the officer interpreted as forward momentum and a perceived threat.
Handing down her findings on Wednesday, Coroner Ros Fogliani said the eight police officers who attended the scene could have considered de-escalation options.
“The police officer who shot JC, within 17 seconds of getting out of his vehicle, did not know, when he exited the car, if the person holding the knife was a male or a female,” she said.
“He acted too hastily in running towards the threat posed by JC, not considering communication with the other police officer who was trying to engage with JC and putting himself in a situation where he perceived the need to fire.”
Brent Wyndham has since resigned from the WA Police Force.Credit: ABC News/Keane Bourke
Fogliani found if Wyndham had taken a moment before getting out of his police vehicle, or pulling his firearm to have better assessed the situation, the death may have been preventable.
“If there had been more consideration given to de-escalation options and tactical disengagement, given that JC was effectively cordoned and that she was not an active armed offender, it is possible that the shooting could have been avoided,” she said.
“If First Class Constable Wyndham had not run towards the threat posed by JC, placing himself within an unsafe distance of JC, it is possible that he may not have perceived the need to fire his gun.”
Fogliani made nine recommendations including improving relations with Aboriginal communities, a review of WA Police training and a better coordinated response to police incidents involving mentally unwell people.
JC’s troubled life
JC’s short life was one marred by disadvantage, mental health challenges and drug abuse.
Her foster mother, Anne Jones, said she entered the foster care system at five months old before starting to drink alcohol at the tender age of seven.
She was suspected of having foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, but was never diagnosed, and had attempted suicide at 12 years old.
Days before her death, JC had been released from Bandyup Women’s Prison after serving jail time for stealing a mobile phone from a house and then setting fire to her cell because she thought “spirits” were inside.
She had a rap sheet 22 pages long, including 13 convictions for criminal damage.
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