By Perry Duffin
Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame has accused NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb of “quietly” suggesting she be considered for removal from almost all cases after her mother was handcuffed by police.
Lawyers, on behalf of a police officer, also argued that the deputy coroner could appear biased against police after the officers handcuffed her distressed mother on video.
In a judgment released on Friday, Grahame outlined for the first time publicly her refusal to step aside, saying her sister’s anger about how police had handled their 81-year-old mother had been taken out of context.
In the aftermath of the Tasering of 95-year-old great-grandmother Clare Nowland at a Cooma nursing home by a NSW Police officer earlier this year, bodycam footage emerged of officers attempting to restrain another distressed dementia patient.
The woman, Rachel Grahame – the mother of the deputy coroner – was shown screaming as a police officer handcuffed her during the incident at St Basil’s aged care home at Randwick in October 2020.
Rachel Grahame and her other daughter Emma launched a lawsuit against the State of NSW over the incident, which was settled in 2021.
Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame was asked to disqualify herself from cases involving police after video emerged of her mother being handcuffed in a nursing home while suffering from dementia in 2020.Credit: Yianni Aspradakis
After the Nowland Tasering, Emma Grahame criticised police on social media and in news articles, as the video of her mother being handcuffed emerged.
“I am releasing body worn footage, I’m making comments that nothing has changed in the police, something has got to [be] done,” Emma Grahame said earlier this year.
On Friday, Deputy Coroner Harriet Grahame in a judgment released by the Coroner’s Court disclosed publicly that the woman in the video was her mother, now deceased.
The deputy coroner also revealed that NSW Police lawyers, on behalf of Commissioner Webb, on August 3 privately wrote to State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan about the video.
“The Commissioner’s view is what occurred with Ms Grahame might give rise to a perception of bias on DSC Grahame’s part, especially when she is presiding over matters in relation to the use of police powers, vulnerable persons or use of force,” the letter read.
Grahame said the letter went much further, questioning whether it was appropriate for her to “continue to preside over matters involving the Commissioner and NSWPF Officers”.
The deputy coroner noted that would effectively disqualify her from almost all matters in her jurisdiction.
Rachel Grahame, an 81-year-old woman with dementia, was restrained by police at an aged care centre in Sydney.Credit: Nine
The Commissioner stopped short of formally applying for Grahame to be removed, but lawyers for another police officer made that jump just days later.
On August 7, 2023, Grahame opened an inquest into the death of Andrew Chee Quee, shot and killed by police during a confrontation in Sydney. At the opening, she disclosed publicly, for the first time, her connection to the restraining of Rachel Grahame.
Lawyers for a police officer involved in the Chee Quee inquest, Constable Worboys, asked for Grahame to disqualify herself.
Worboys’ legal team argued DSC Grahame was at risk of “apprehended bias”. They did not allege Grahame was truly biased.
Lawyers for Police Commissioner Karen Webb told the Coroner’s Court they also supported Worboys’ push to have Grahame disqualify herself.
Grahame said she did not feel, when the issue was raised, there was any significant connection between the restraint of her mother, the comments made in the media by her adult sister, and the inquest into Chee Quee’s death.
Lawyers for NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb wrote to the NSW Coroner concerned the handcuffing of DSC Grahame’s mother might give the perception she was “biased” against police use of force. Credit: James Brickwood
“Mr Chee Quee died of a gunshot wound to the chest in April 2020, my own mother died quite recently of advanced dementia in her bed surrounded by family, some years after the events which triggered the Commissioner’s concern,” Grahame wrote in her judgment.
Grahame said Webb’s lawyers should have dealt with it in open court, rather than away from the public with the private letter to her boss.
“The Commissioner was at least comfortable writing privately to the head of my jurisdiction to request consideration of quietly removing me from presiding over all matters in which she or other NSWPF officers were involved,” Grahame wrote.
The deputy coroner concluded that her mother’s incident did involve the use of police power against a vulnerable person, but it was considerably different from the shooting of Chee Quee.
“The incident in relation to my mother did not result in her death or in any coronial investigation,” Grahame said.
The deputy coroner, on Friday, refused to disqualify herself from the Chee Quee inquest, saying her sister’s comments were taken out of context.
“It appears that much of what Emma Grahame says – such as the inappropriateness of arresting and double handcuffing a 45 kg, 81-year-old dementia patient ‘howling in pain’ in her own home – might be generally accepted in the community,” Grahame said on Friday.
Worboys’ lawyer, Warwick Anderson, said he is considering the next steps and did not rule out appealing against Grahame’s judgment. Commissioner Webb and the NSW Attorney-General were contacted for comment.
Grahame said she had been in her role for 15 years and investigates death every single day - many hundreds so far. This was the first complaint of any type of bias, she added.
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