'Inadequate proof': no expenses will likely be laid over Veronica Nelson's dying in custody

Warning: this text incorporates the identify and picture of an Indigenous one who has died, and could also be distressing for some readers.

A two-year investigation into the 2020 dying in custody of Veronica Nelson has not really useful any expenses be laid within the case.

The Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta lady died in January of that 12 months on the most safety Dame Phyllis Frost Centre jail, after her agonised pleas for assist had been ignored.

The jail’s healthcare supplier, Right Care Australasia, and the state’s Division of Justice and Group Security turned the topic of an inquiry in Might 2022.

On Thursday, WorkSafe Victoria, which examined whether or not there have been any breaches of the Occupational Well being and Security Act, mentioned there was “inadequate proof” to put expenses in opposition to the establishments or officers concerned.

Ms Nelson’s mom, Aunty Donna Nelson, mentioned

“My coronary heart breaks,” she mentioned.

“I am unable to specific to you the ache of seeing the folks answerable for my daughter’s dying stroll away unpunished.

“What good is the coronial course of, the ache and heartache that we’ve got to undergo, if they simply let these folks stroll?

‘Merciless and degrading’

“They’re killing our kids and never holding anybody to account. It is painful. It is hurtful.”

Ms Nelson was arrested in December 2019 on warrants for breaching bail and suspicion of shoplifting.

She represented herself in a bail software, which was denied.

Following dozens of requires assist, she died in her cell at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre days later from problems of Wilkie’s syndrome, in a setting of withdrawal from heroin.

However the 37-year-old’s repeated pleas had been knocked again by jail guards and healthcare workers.

The coroner who examined Ms Nelson’s dying mentioned it was preventable and referred to as for bail regulation reform citing the opposed results it had on First Nations folks.

“I discover that the Bail Act has a discriminatory impression on First Nations folks, leading to grossly disproportionate charges of remand in custody, essentially the most egregious of which have an effect on alleged offenders who’re Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander ladies,” mentioned Coroner Simon McGregor.

Ms Nelson’s dying would finally lead to severe modifications to Victoria’s bail legal guidelines, although not earlier than the federal government was excoriated by the household for its delay in implementing them.