A coronial inquest into the hanging death of a 31-year-old man at Darwin's adult prison last year is facing a significant delay.
A three-day inquest into Bernard Hector's death was due to start today but has been adjourned because large amounts of evidence were only recently given to his family's lawyer.
Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage told the court it was likely the inquest hearing would need to be postponed until 2023 because of the jurisdiction's busy calendar.
Lawyers for the Northern Territory's correctional services and health departments apologised for the delays, citing COVID-19 illness and leave as contributing factors.
'We're trying to find out the truth'
The family's lawyer John Lawrence SC — who applied for the adjournment — said the late filing of evidence and anticipated delay was a huge disappointment for the family.
"Both the department of health and corrections didn't put in the statements until one-and-a-half days and half a day before the hearing began, which is just ridiculous," Mr Lawrence said outside court.
Mr Hector's brother Aaron also said the family desperately wanted more information about the circumstances surrounding his death.
"We wanted to go forward instead of waiting until next year," he said outside court.
"We don't want to wait.
"There's no answer yet but we're trying to find the truth now, what has happened to him in prison."
Bernard Hector's aunty Amy Johnson agreed it had been difficult for the family to understand what had happened.
"We need to know more, what really happened to him, because it was a big shock," she said.
The NT Coroner's office has confirmed Bernard Hector's death was by hanging.
Mr Lawrence said Mr Hector was in a single cell with a double bunk bed and had previously been classified as "at risk" – he said that classification had been removed prior to his death.
He said the protocol for prisoners in this circumstance would likely be among the issues examined at the inquest when a new date was set.
"That will have to be examined thoroughly and really what the prison service did for him thereafter," Mr Lawrence said.
"What is central to the Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission is the duty of care.
"The prison service and the health service therein owes a duty of care to every prisoner it holds and it should be circumspect and it should be thorough."
In 2020 the NT government removed ceiling fans from all cells at Darwin's prison, after several warnings about them from the now retired NT coroner Greg Cavanagh.
He raised concerns about ceiling fans after the 2017 and 2018 inquests into the deaths of low-security prisoners Roy Melbourne, 81, and Vernon Bonson, 34.
Ceiling fans had been removed from single-occupancy cells at the prison and replaced with less powerful desk fans in 2017.
Mr Lawrence said Bernard Hector was on remand at the Darwin Correctional Centre at the time of his death, charged with domestic violence-related and other offences.
