I am writing to you with reference to the current inquest into the death of my son Jason Protheroe. I firstly wish to request that the Coroner grant our request in order for my Barrister to be able to cross examine one of the most crucial witnesses of this whole inquest, the shooting officer Thomas Hess. I will go into my reasons for this in this letter. I was going to send you a list of questions we have, there are several important questions to be asked, however I have decided against sending them to you as I don’t feel that they should be censored before my Barrister has a chance to cross examine Thomas Hess on the stand. Our barrister was unable to be there due to circumstances beyond our or his control and our solicitor clearly advised that he did not feel the time allowed was enough for anybody to question this witness. The Coroner allowed our solicitor who is not specialised in this area to question Thomas Hess which clearly disadvantaged us in finding the absolute truth. Secondly I wish to stress my absolute disgust at the Coroner suddenly putting a time frame on the 3 crucial witnesses. If time was an issue perhaps we should have been advised of this in the early days of the inquest, less time may have been spent on the less critical witnesses so that we had all the time needed to spend on the 3 crucial witnesses. From the day this horrific and tragic incident occurred I have stated I want to know the truth. How is the truth supposed to be found if my barrister is not given the opportunity to cross examine this witness to the fullest extent possible. Some questions may seem irrelevant to the Coroner but for a family searching for answers we need to have all of our questions answered in order to understand and explain this to Jason’s 2 children (15 year old daughter and 10 year old son) who’s interests we have always included in our plight for the truth so that we may know that everything that could have been was done when they are old enough and mature enough to fully understand. At this stage going on the evidence that has been heard from all parties I do not believe that it has been proven that my son was shot whilst armed, I do not believe that Thomas Hess is being entirely truthful in his answers and I do not believe we have gotten to the truth as yet. Thirdly I would like to raise the issue that it is constantly said that my son was not shot in the back area of his body twice. I will vehemently argue that point. I have ask that you print two photos (G5 72 & 75) for the Coroner’s personal viewing of the gunshot wounds my son had, and both of them are to the back of his body. I quote where the gunshot wounds are directly as per the autopsy report:
1) An ovoid entry gunshot wound with abrasion margin on the outer back of the left upper arm near the shoulder region, 25.5 em left of midline and 140 em above the heel.
2) A circular entry gunshot wound with an abrasion margin on the right lower back, 8.5 em right of midline and 108.5 em above the heel.
SUMMARY & INTERPRETATION:
2, Two gunshot wounds were present on the body:-
a. The first gunshot wound entered from slightly to the back of the upper arm region and above the axillary fold (armpit) travelling sideways from the left to right to end within the axillary (armpit) region of the right upper limb. It had lacerated the aorta and upper lobes of both lungs, It also had fractured the left filth rib and anterior bodies of T5 and T6 thoracic vertebra. The projectile was present in the right axilla/outer aspect of right chest.
b. The second gunshot wound entered the body from the right lower back of the torso with its trajectory being upwards to the left and forward lacerating the right kidney, inferior vena cava and liver. The projectile was present in the abdominal cavity. When compared to the CT
scan images, the projectile was originally in the anterior abdominal wall and had apparently 'dropped' into the abdominal cavity, most probably due to movement of the body during examination.
In summary, we have waited 13 months to hear the truth about what happened to our son. To our belief, our Barrister was unavoidably detained and we don’t believe that the Coroner should penalise us by not giving Mr Sam Di Carlo the opportunity to cross examine Thomas Hess. I appeal to you, Mr Barnes, as the only man who has the power to make this decision to please give us our day of cross examination with Mr Thomas Hess. Could you please pass along the photos and a copy of this letter directly to Mr Michael Barnes on my behalf.
Sincerely
Stephen Protheroe
***** Note - the reply at this stage is that all parties have until 12 noon Wednesday 22/5/13 to submit submissions as to whether we will be granted this crucial opportunity ******
I'm wondering about the pockets of the pants pulled out, the 2 witnesses' who reported this? Seems to be a lot missing. The dog that was shot? Did the Barrister want to be there? It should be a case of 'do they want the truth or a white wash' Too many lies have been told so far.
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