Just a few short videos to set the scene. Unfortunetly, uploading them wasn’t working so here are the links :)
Pay particular attention to Homicide Detective Bernie Edwards media release focusing rather on what he doesn’t say then what he does.
http://media.theage.com.au/williams-bashed-with-exercise-bike-1339034.html
Co-author of ‘Underbelly’ and Senior Crime Writer, Andrew Rule and his rather subjective reflections on Carl Williams.
http://media.theage.com.au/carl-williams-had-it-coming-1338750.html
Police Reporter, Paul Millar when Matthew Johnson (name unknown at this time) is being tried in Geelong Magistrates court.
http://media.theage.com.au/williams-murder-suspect-appears-in-court-1340878.html
After much speculation and many un-evidenced rumours, Carl Williams accused ‘killer’ (for lack of a better word) Matthew Johnson has had two suppression orders lifted that were in place in order to keep his name and identity private removed. Many legal notions or concepts have been brought to the forefront throughout this case, which in turn have been analysed throughout the course of this semester; the high-profile drug trade that could otherwise be recognised as organised crime (which underpinned the reality television series ‘Underbelly’), death within custody and the many legal ramifications that they possess, victim and offender statuses in direct relation to the media and the media representations of imprisonment in relation to the criticisms of the Barwon Victorian Corrections facility in where Williams was sentenced and later killed.
Carl Williams’s former wife will look to sue the Corrections Victoria, because although the brutal basing was caught on CCTV within the prison facility, it took an estimated twenty-five minutes for the guards to contact Williams and at which point he had suffered a cardiac arrest which led to his death. Now I pose the question that how is that effective ‘protection’ or ‘guarding’ perse when the closed circuit television (CCTV) within the prison record an incident, which we assume someone is monitoring, yet no one attended to Williams for a further twenty-five minutes at which point they only did so because another inmate had told the guards that Williams required checking in on. What is the point of having CCTV cameras when events like these brutal bashings take place and no attends? Surely the high profile of Carl Williams has to fashion extra attention from the guards? Does that mean that if a prisoner were to attempt to escape the guards would not approach this scene instantly? Somehow, I don’t think so.
Numerous media reports can be shown quoting that guards were too busy playing a recreational game of cricket whilst Williams was being killed.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/19/2876669.htm
http://media.theage.com.au/national/breaking-news/carl-williams-dies-in-prison-1338078.html
‘Perth Now’ utterly sensationalises this report by saying ‘the Herald Sun understands stumps were drawn at the time of his slaying, on April 19.’ Humorously using cricket rhetoric ‘stumps’ whilst combining the term ‘slaying’ which instantly brings negative connotations to one’s thoughts, depicts both the barbaric attempts of reporting to receive readership which in turn boosts profits.
That phrase is strikingly contrasted to not only the next paragraph, but the next sentence of the article which mentions “There is believed to be no indication the cricket matches were a factor in the murder of Williams”. I found this entirely misleading and rather ironic, that they would disagree with themselves amongst their own report.
Williams was sentenced to jail for 37 years to one of Australia’s highest security prisons in May 2007 after being branded by the media as a ‘serial killer’. He was sentenced for the killing of drug rivals Lewis and Jason Moran and drug dealer Mark Mallia. It can now be reported that Williams also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder underworld lawyer Mario Condello in 2004, putting up about $150,000 for the failed plot. Condello was killed more than a year later. Justice King sentenced Williams to three life sentences. King was recorded saying Williams didn't pull the trigger in the murders, but his role as "counsellor and procurer'' was even more heinous.
The murder of a Carl Williams in prison is a poignant example of the state failing in their duty of care.
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I agree completely with the fact that there was a complete failure in regards to the duty of care. It is pretty shocking to think that it took 25 minutes before anyone did anything. Personally I don't think that it is much of a loss to society but I suppose that it beside the point. It also seems that the incident was not taken all that seriously as you mentioned about cricket being played.
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