<nettime> Charges Dropped

[Dave/Ross <fold@idl.net.au>]

Charges Against Woomera Demonstrator Dropped

At the Magistrate's Court in Port Augusta on Monday, the charge of 
trespassing was dropped against David McKay, one of the two members 
of the Refugee Embassy, which has been parked outside of Woomera for 
the past two months.

McKay was told by one of the arresting officers on April 1st, that 
the charges would be dropped at the last minute.  "That way, you 
won't even get your day in court," he taunted.

McKay was arrested 100 metres away from the border fence at the 
Woomera Detention Centre, and charged with trespassing.  When the 
police prosecutor read the facts of the arrest, he immediately asked 
for it to be dropped, realising that there was no way that a charge 
of trespassing could be upheld if the defendant was 100 metres away 
from the property on which he was supposed to have been trespassing.

The arrest followed disclosure by the pair, which included Ross 
Parry, a 44-year-old music teacher from Newcastle, NSW, that they 
intended to stay on in Woomera after the Easter demonstration, so 
that they could arrange visits with detainees on a regular basis, 
through legal channels.

Moments after the last busload of demonstrators left the campsite,on 
April 1st, McKay was arrested.  A condition of bail was that he could 
not return to the township of Woomera.  Consequently, the bus being 
used as a "refugee embassy" had to be parked some seven kilometres 
away, at the Pimba Roadhouse.

"It's a clear case of wrongful arrest," McKay said at the time, and 
he repeated his complaint yesterday.  "The whole idea was to obstruct 
us in our efforts to visit the detainees, and to make us look like 
law-breakers, even though our position throughout the Easter weekend 
had been one of moderation and co-operation with the authorities."

Travel to and from his home in Newcastle, New South Wales, in order 
to appear in court on Monday, cost more than $500.  Had he been found 
guilty, there would have been a fine of $100.  "The police succeeded 
in punishing me by deliberately making a false arrest," McKay 
complained.  He said that he would be looking into the possibility of 
suing the police for wrongful arrest.

In the meantime, McKay and Parry have announced that they will be 
preparing a newspaper, called the Freedom Banner, to be posted to 
Woomera detainees each week, as part of their efforts to give hope 
and encouragement to the asylum seekers who are being held there. 
They earlier offered their services to teach English and music as 
fulltime volunteers, but the offer was refused by authorities at the 
reception centre, on the grounds that their presence at the Easter 
demonstration made them a risk to the security and smooth operation 
of the centre.

Dave McKay & Ross Parry
Refugee Embassy, Woomera 5720
Phone 0407-238805

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