Over 50 at Dungay Death in Custody Rally

Over 50 at Dungay Death in Custody Rally

Leetona Dungay speaks to Rally of 50 at Long Bay today on 2nd anniversary of son’s death. David Dungay died in custody. Justice has been a long time coming. The rally is outside Long Bay Gaol where he died today Friday 29 December at 11am.

11am, 29th of December meeting at the corner of Anzac Pde and Bilga Street in Malabar. March to the entrance of Long Bay Prison. We finally have a date for the Inquest - 16 July 2018.

You don’t have to be a saint to be entitled to human rights. His mother Leetona’s Speech follows.

And the Facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1744332449207880/

Text of Leetona Dungay Speech for 29 December 2017:

Hello.

Or as my people say … Ghymaghayal. That means hello.

Buren – murren

Meegan – Duna

Duli Dumlii Carr

Dhunghatti Gooten

Welcome to country as my people say in Dhunghutti language of the elders past and present

First I want to thank the traditional owners of the land where we are standing right now – the Ghadagal people of the Eora Nation.

I acknowledge Eora Elders past and present too

My name is Leetona Dungay. I am the mother of David Dungay Jr.

We are here today. And nobody has to tell me what the date is today. It’s December 29.

December 29 is a day that will live on forever when people talk about violence against Aboriginal people.

December 29 is a day that will live on forever when people talk about how white people can just take an Aboriginal person’s life away.

My son was taken away from me in Long Bay Prison Hospital on the evening of 29 December 2015.

Two years ago today.

David was about three weeks away from release on parole at the time of his death.

A prison officer saw David Jnr eating biscuits in his cell.

The officer knew that David Jnr was a diabetic, but still he ordered him to stop eating the biscuits but David was unable to comply with his order.

My son was overpowered and restrained by six huge officers applying force in an open cell.

David yelled out – I can’t breathe.

They replied – If you can talk, you can breathe.

Well, he couldn’t breathe.

A nurse gave him a needle as he was being restrained.

We now know this injection was a very powerful drug – Midazolam.

I have seen a video of David dying right here in this prison.

He was held down by six of them. One of them had his knee in his back. And David’s face was forced down into a mattress.

And he died right there.

No mother should have to watch her son die right there in front of her on a TV screen.

We have an Inquest set down for June 2018. So let’s see what happens then. And let’s see some people held accountable.

My lawyers at the National Justice Project have been asking the prison and the Correctional Services NSW for more video footage so I can see if David was OK during the day before this terrible thing happened.

And now Correctional Services are telling us – there is NO CCTV FOOTAGE.

That can’t be right.

Where is the CCTV footage?

You know what we need in Australia? Our own Black Lives Matter movement like the one that started in the United States.

Aboriginal lives matter. My son’s life matters.

I want JUSTICE.

Thank You.

https://amp.smh.com.au/national/aboriginal-man-david-dungay-hills-death-in-custody-suspicious-family-20160119-gm95o7.html

https://amp.smh.com.au/nsw/death-in-custody-when-a-cell-extraction-turns-fatal-20161229-gtj8pz.html

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