WA Police Force found fault with acquitted cop

The constable acquitted by a jury over the death of a 29-year-old Aboriginal woman was formally and privately found by WA Police to have failed in his duties on the day he shot her dead.

Brent Wyndham. Picture: Colin Murty

The constable acquitted by a jury over the death of a 29-year-old Aboriginal woman was formally and privately found by WA Police to have failed in his duties on the day he shot her dead as she stood holding a bread knife in a residential street.

The inquest into the death of the mentally ill woman known for cultural reasons as JC has heard previously unknown details about an internal inquiry into Constable Brent Wyndham’s ­decision-making on September 17, 2019.

On that day he fired a single and fatal shot into her abdomen. Constable Wyndham was found not guilty of the murder of JC after a criminal trial in the West Australian Supreme Court. He was also found not guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter and remains a police officer in the farming and crayfishing town of Geraldton where JC died.

The inquest heard on Wednesday that the police force had made four findings of its own against Constable Wyndham.

A suppression order was in place overnight on Wednesday preventing media from reporting how Constable Wyndham was found to have erred.

Outside the inquest, JC’s foster mother Anne Jones told The Australian she had never been ­informed of any internal police findings against Constable Wyndham.

Ms Jones said that his continued presence in the town was a source of pain for the local Aboriginal community.

Late on Wednesday, one of the eight police officers on the scene when JC was shot gave evidence that he had never once drawn his gun while dealing with a person holding a knife.

Adrian Barker left the police force in November 2021, after Constable Wyndham was acquitted at trial.

He told the inquest that during 15 years as a police officer he had encountered people with knives 25 to 30 times. He said the closest he came to drawing his gun was when confronted by a person with a samurai sword. On that ­occasion, Mr Barker said he was “pushing the clip” on his holster in preparation for drawing his ­weapon.

Mr Barker, now a truck driver, had known JC over a period of about seven years before she died. He knew from his past dealings with JC that she had mental health issues and drug problems.

Ten days before her death, he had bundled her into a police van when she was suicidal and took her to Geraldton hospital.

From there, she was transferred to Graylands psychiatric hospital.

On the day he and his partner were called to help respond to JC walking with a knife in Petchell Street, Geraldton, Mr Barker said he did not expect to see her. “I thought she was in Graylands (psychiatric hospital),” he said.

So far the inquest has heard that Constable Wyndham was about 4m from JC before he shot her. Another officer, Constable Dillon McLean, was also 4m from JC and had begun the process of arming his Taser.

JC was ignoring orders to drop the knife before she was shot.

In an interview with police shortly after JC’s death, Constable McLean described seeing her raise her right arm with the knife in her right hand.

On Wednesday he told the ­inquest he did not recall if she raised her arm or not but he agreed that his recollection would have been better closer to the time of her death.

Constable McLean told the inquest he said to JC In the seconds before she was shot: “Drop the knife or you will be tasered.”

Counsel assisting Rachael Young SC asked Constable McLean: “Did you consider saying anything else?” Constable McLean replied: “I didn’t get the opportunity.”