A friend of a Gomeroi man who drowned in a Moree river has told the man’s family at an inquest he is “very sorry” for failing to tell authorities the deceased man, Gordon Copeland, was with him on the night he died, and that at the time he was scared of the police.
Copeland, a 22-year-old father of three, drowned in the Gwydir River in the early hours of 10 July 2021. The NSW coroner is examining the death, and counsel assisting, Peggy Dwyer, told the inquest Copeland went into the water after police followed the vehicle in which he was a passenger, mistakenly thinking it was stolen.
Jabour Clarke, a friend of Gordon Copeland, was driving the car unlicensed while on parole, the inquest heard. In evidence given last week at the inquest, police said they followed the vehicle after concerns it was driving “erratically”.
Clarke was with Copeland and his girlfriend, Kowhai, who is yet to appear. After being intercepted by police, the car became bogged on an unsealed road and all three left the vehicle and split up from one another.
Clarke, 21, told the inquest that he heard Copeland go into the river but could not see him. “I heard a big splash,” he said.
The inquest into Copeland’s death heard last week that police officers called off the initial search after believing there were only two people in the car and both were safe.
Dwyer asked Clarke why he had not told authorities or his family that Copeland was in the vehicle.
“I was scared I was gonna get locked up,” Clarke told the inquest on Monday. He said he feared he would be “bashed” by police if they caught him.
“I have been bashed by the coppers before,” he said to the court under questioning from the lawyer acting on behalf of Copeland’s partner and the mother of his two young children, Josephine Brown.
Clarke then told the court he was “sorry”. At the time, he thought Copeland had either been arrested by the police or that he had gotten away.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight. I was panicky and scared and didn’t know what to do. I wish I had told you and told the police,” Clarke said to the family.
Clarke said it was after the police had gone to his grandmother’s and his mother’s homes to make inquiries about the car and what had happened that his concerns grew.
Last week the inquest heard the family had gone to the police station in Moree to report that Copeland was missing and they held concerns for his welfare.
The inquest is expected to hear from Copeland’s family in its final days.
