High court rejects challenge to Northern Territory's protective custody laws
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Version 0 of 1. The high court has rejected a challenge to the Northern Territory’s protective custody laws, dismissing an appeal by an Aboriginal man who said he was wrongfully apprehended by police based on racial stereotypes. Anthony Prior was arrested on New Year’s Eve in 2013 while drinking on a footpath outside a shopping complex in Darwin, based on a police officer’s belief he was intoxicated and likely to commit an offence involving disorderly behaviour or drinking in a regulated place. He was later charged and convicted with assaulting a police officer in the execution of duty and public indecency while in custody. After failed appeals to the supreme court and court of appeal, Prior appealed to the highest court in the land to argue the officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe he was likely to commit an offence, having known nothing about his background. The high court on Wednesday rejected the appeal. The court found that while prejudice was irrational and unacceptable grounds for a police officer’s decision-making, knowledge born of experience was not irrational. It ruled it was fair to infer the officer’s belief about how Prior might behave was informed by his experience dealing with intoxicated people. “The appellant was drunk, disinhibited, abusive and blatantly consuming liquor in a conspicuous public place in close proximity to licensed premises,” the court said, adding that particular spot was known to the officer as a site where alcohol was consumed illegally. “It was reasonable for him to believe that Mr Prior was likely to continue drinking liquor in a regulated place.” The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, which ran the case for Prior, said the powers were disproportionately used against Aboriginal people. “The Northern Territory government should be doing all it can to avoid the unnecessary locking up of Aboriginal people,” its principal legal officer, David Woodroffe, said. “Today we continue to see protective custody and paperless arrest laws being overused, and more and more Aboriginal people are ending up in police cells.” He called on the NT government to adopt an alternative approach such as sobering-up shelters and rehab programs. The Human Rights Law Centre says the powers are used about 10,000 times each year, with Aboriginal people accounting for more than 90% of those locked up. |