Following the lead story which appeared on National Nine
6pm News on Friday 17th August 2012.
We implore you in the interests of the Queensland public to continue to
apply pressure to the Qld Government departments to uncover the full truth of
the shooting death of our son Jason Protheroe by a Qld Police Officer. A follow up story also appeared in the
Courier Mail early edition on Saturday 18th August 2012 on page 13
written by Chief Crime Reporter Kate Kyriacou, yet the story was pulled by the
time the 2nd edition was released.
Whilst
my family and the majority of Qld citizens believe in the integrity of the
average Qld Police officer, there is a great trust by Queenslanders in the media
to let us know the truth about events that occur that affect us as
Queenslanders. After 4 months of asking
media to tell the people of Queensland the truth one member of the media Shane
Doherty from Channel 9 had the courage to lift the lid on this case. We ask you to put this story under a
microscope so that the Qld public knows that they can have faith in the Qld
Police hierarchy.
When
the Fitzgerald inquiry took place they formed the CJC which consisted of
independant parties as well as senior police officers investigating Qld Police
as it was found that corruption existed with police investigating police. Yet in 2001 Legislation changed and the CJC
was replaced by the CMC which now stands at Qld Police investigating Qld Police
again, the same system that failed us before.
In May 2011 a report was written for the then Premier Anna Bligh
advising of the lack of confidence by the people in Police investigating
Police, we have called for an independant review into our son’s death to no
avail, as at this stage we have little confidence in the system.
We
fail to understand how these 2 officers remain on active duty, we have written
numerous letters requesting that these 2 officers be stood down pending a full
and thorough investigation. At a
conference with the Coroner and his team on Wednesday 27th June 2012
we again called for the suspension of these officers and we were told that at
that point they had no reason to believe the officers had displayed misconduct
and had acted in self defence. It is now
officially clear from the Autopsy report that this is no open and shut case and
clearly these officers need to be stood down Today, Now, Immediately. Based upon the autopsy report and
specifically page 8 point 10 that quotes:
“Without further information, it would be difficult if not impossible to
interpret and reconstruct how these shots were sustained in the circumstances
as described in the Police Form 1”. These
officers have unquestionably lied about how this shooting happened and that
alone is misconduct but the sheer thought that the shooting officer Thomas Hess
and his partner on the day Troy Weston possibly murdered our son, is undeniably
disturbing and the thought of this happening to another person whilst these
officers are getting away with it is unconscionable.
The
Qld Police service has a duty of care to the citizens of Qld and whilst we are
aware that most Qld Police are indeed honourable it is clear that misconduct
and foul play has occurred here and we need the help of Qld media to ensure that
these officers are stood down. Not only
have these officers blatantly lied about what happened on the day but the Qld
Police Union President Ian Leavers either perpetrated these blatant lies or
defended them as his statements to the media stated that our son was shot in
the chest and abdomen and our son had hunted and cornered the police down. We are aware of many other inconsistencies in
the statements made by this man including our son having a fully loaded semi
automatic pistol but we sit in waiting for official reports to verify what we
already know so that these explosive facts can also be released by the media. Once again we have written numerous letters
requesting a public retraction from Ian Leavers and once again had no response
from him, however the Premier of Qld Campbell Newman did reply to our letter
advising us that he had no control over the Qld Police Union.
The
only eyewitness to the shooting stated on channel 9 news on 18th
April 2012 that Jason pulled his pockets out of his pants to show that he had
nothing – the autopsy report states on page 2 point 1 under the heading of
Clothes: “a black pair of sports shorts with white stripes at the side, Adidas
brand. The side pockets are noted to be
turned outside”. This statement is also
a very powerful statement in backing up the words of Crystal Sinn who eye
witnessed the whole shooting. It has
never been denied nor is it in question that this person is the sole witness to
the killing of our son.
In
summary Shane Doherty is our hero. He
listened to us, and followed through on what he told us he was going to do and
he aired the truth and opened that can of worms. We are asking the media and all persons of
authority to react to the official facts already known and made public to
respond without further delay so that our system works for Queensland. We are a large close family in turmoil and
all we want is to know that justice is served for our son. I am sure that if this was anybody else’s
child, brother, father, cousin, uncle, nephew or close friend they would also
seek justice for their loved one. As was
stated on the news on Friday 17th August if the truth is too much to
ask we really are in a bad place. These
police officers are still wearing guns and still actively on the job and we don’t
wish this to happen to any other family, particularly when the real truth is
now officially in the Coroner’s autopsy report with more official documentation
pending.
It
has taken 4 months to officially get out what we have known since day 3 and
clearly the police have known from day 1, so for 4 months these 2 officers have
remained on active duty believing they have gotten away with what we believe to
be murder. Isn’t this official evidence
enough to have these officers stood down or do we have to wait for more
explosive facts that we know will be proven to be true to come to light and
shame these officers and the Qld Police force even further. Does the Qld media have to expose the truth
in full openly and honestly before the Qld Police hierarchy can be seen to be
honest, un biased and transparent.
Yours Faithfully
Stephen Protheroe
