By KATH GANNAWAY
A CORONER’S inquiry into the death of 23-year-old David Sinclair three years ago at Warburton has found he died of ‘mechanical asphyxia’, after being tackled to the ground and held by Kieren Alkemade.
Three years on from the tragic death in a vacant block of land behind the town’s La La shopping strip, State Coroner Judge Ian Gray, delivered his findings on Tuesday 14 July at Melbourne.
He said he was satisfied that David’s death was the result of actions of Kieran Alkemade on 2 June 2012.
It was also clear, he said, that the death was unintentional.
David’s parents Doug and Annette Sinclair were in the court to hear the outcome of what has been a devastating three-year ordeal for the family.
Judge Gray said the principal focus of the inquest, held over two hearings on 3 June and 6 November last year, was on the actions of Mr Alkemade after he pursued David, who, he said, had been seen peering into the hotel room occupied by Mr Alkemade and his then girlfriend.
He made the point that coroners are not empowered to determine civil or criminal liability.
During the hearings, and in coming to a finding, Judge Gray had access to extensive evidence including the Coroner’s Investigator’s Brief of Evidence, and the statements, reports and testimony of numerous witnesses.
The key questions, he said, were around whether or not Mr Alkemade used excessive force in bringing David to the ground and restraining him, and whether he should have relaxed his hold on him earlier.
“It is clear, as a matter of causation, that the actions of Mr Alkemade caused the death of David,” Judge Gray said.
“There is no other contributing medical cause of death, other than mechanical asphyxiation.
“It is also clear that Mr Alkemade did not intend to cause David’s death.”
He said a secondary question was in relation to whether police acted appropriately in not attempting to resuscitate David.
He found that Yarra Junction police officers, Leading Senior Constable Kevin Hall and Senior Constable Arin Eker, were “highly-experienced” and that the observations on which they based their decision not to attempt resuscitation were a credible basis for that decision.
David’s parents, who have consistently called for justice for their son, spoke briefly with the Mail on Tuesday.
Annette Sinclair said they knew now it was too late by the time police arrived for David to be resuscitated.
“We don’t blame the local police for David’s death – they weren’t the ones who held him down until he couldn’t breathe,” Mrs Sinclair said.
She said the family did not accept that it was proven that it was David, who had an intellectual disability, who was looking through the window.
“Even if that were the case,” she said, “He didn’t deserve to die for it.”
Asked whether they believed justice had been achieved with the findings, Mrs Sinclair hesitated.
“Only time will tell,” she said.
Judge Gray made no recommendations, but commented that the inquest had revealed there is little understanding (by the general public) of positional asphyxia.
“The speed with which a person can succumb to this cause of death when restrained in a prone position and unable to inflate their lungs is something that should be better understood,” he said.
