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National
Rex Martinich

'Never again' says family at deaths in custody inquest

Davina Tilberoo (centre) says Aunty Sherry's family and friends still grieve for her every day. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

The family of Indigenous woman Shiralee Deanne Tilberoo has called on the coroner to prevent any more "degrading" deaths in custody.

Ms Tilberoo, known as Aunty Sherry, died at the Brisbane City Watch House on September 10, 2020.

The 49-year-old's death prompted Black Lives Matter protests across Brisbane in the following days.

The Queensland Coroners Court on Tuesday heard evidence for the second day of a joint inquest into Aunty Sherry's death and that of another woman, Vlasta Wylucki, who died in Southport Watch House in 2018.

Davina Tilberoo told the inquest on behalf of the extended family that Aunty Sherry was a "proud Birri Gubba woman" and they still grieved for her every day.

"Sherry can never be defined solely by the degrading way she died or nor by her health issues or the way she lived her life," Davina Tilberoo said.

"There was nothing inevitable about her death.There was nothing acceptable about her death. Because of these truths, we ensure that what Sherry was forced to endure never happens again to anyone's mother, grandmother, sister or daughter, no human being, ever again."

Aunty Sherry was taken to the Brisbane City Watch House at 4.05am on September 6, 2020, after being arrested on warrants.

Christian Gericke, senior staff specialist in neurology at Metro North Health, told the inquest Aunty Sherry died of a saccular or "berry" aneurysm.

Professor Gericke said aneurysms were like a "pouch in the brain" that can fill with blood and rupture, causing death before a person can be transported to hospital in 25 per cent of cases with a further 45 per cent of sufferers dying within 30 days.

"Aneurysms occur in one or two per cent of the population and you'd never knew you had it," Prof Gericke said.

He said there was no evidence Aunty Sherry had received a scan for aneurysms or experienced the symptoms of a rupture, which consisted of a thunderclap headache with sudden and extreme pain, followed by nausea and confusion.

Counsel Assisting Sarah Lane asked if Aunty Sherry's vomiting, which had been associated with her heroin withdrawal symptoms, could have been a symptom of a ruptured aneurysm.

"It's highly unlikely. She did not have the specific symptoms. She also had diarrhoea and goosebumps, which are not aneurysm symptoms," Prof Gericke replied.

"In a major bleed, death is very quick ... there was nothing (the watch house) could have done."

Multiple police and civilian watch house officers on duty during Aunty Sherry's first few days of custody testified that they had little or no recollection of her outside of custody logs and Queensland Police records.

Senior Constable Martin Baxter, who first booked Aunty Sherry into custody, testified she told him she was not suffering from illness or injury.

Snr Const Baxter and watch house officer Sheryl Mole both told the inquest the only other encounter with Aunty Sherry they could recall was when they entered her cell to tell her she had to sleep in her allocated bed.

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