Police and custodial officers have been accused of "brutally assaulting" a Tasmanian Aboriginal man in custody, allegedly leaving him "naked, in a pool of his own blood, for [more than] 12 hours".
The assault is alleged to have taken place at the Hobart Remand Centre last Thursday night and it is claimed the man was not taken to hospital until his mother intervened the following morning.
An initial assessment of the allegations by the Police Standards body has found that "no immediate action is required in relation to the officers involved."
The allegations have been revealed by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC).
"A 20-year-old Aboriginal man was taken into police custody over a minor charge and subsequently handcuffed, thrown into a cell, and held face-down while his clothes were cut from his body and an unknown number of police and custodial officers proceeded to brutally assault the young man, leaving him bruised and bloodied," the TAC's Nala Mansell said.
"He was then left lying, naked, in a pool of his own blood, for [more than] 12 hours, with his calls for medical and legal assistance from the on-duty officers being ignored."
"The man was then taken by ambulance, under police escort, to receive medical attention for the serious injuries sustained," she said.
"[He] was held without charge until Saturday night when a Justice of the Peace attended his hospital bedside, where he remained under police guard, before being taken back to the remand centre on Sunday night."
'Handcuffed and bashed'
The man's mother, Stacey, said he was very badly injured.
"He was taken to Hobart Police Station, taken into a holding cell at the remand centre and surrounded by police officers and guards and bashed," she said.
"He's returned home with black eyes, both black eyes, very swollen and close to closed," she said.
"It is really distressing, it's inhumane to treat anybody like that and to be handcuffed and be absolutely bashed to pieces by people that are supposed to be in the community to help people, it's absolutely disgusting."
Stacey said she spoke to her son on Sunday night.
"I was an emotional wreck, to have him tell me what had actually happened to him and he'd had CT scans and X-rays and all of those kinds of things," she said.
"That's not just from a clip around the shoulders, that's grievous bodily harm because they were checking for broken bones, internal injuries."
'No immediate action required'
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Tasmania Police said Professional Standards Command had "completed an initial assessment" of the "allegations".
"Professional Standards has secured clear CCTV footage which captures all interactions between police officers, prison staff and the complainant," the statement reads.
"As a result, Professional Standards has determined that no immediate action is required in relation to the officers involved.
"As is standard procedure in such matters, the Integrity Commission will be notified and in all matters has oversight over Professional Standards matters."
In an earlier statement police said the man was "provided with medical treatment and remanded in custody".
It said he had been charged on Saturday with several offences including four counts of breaching bail conditions, aggravated assault, resisting a police officer and assaulting a public officer.
He was given bail on Monday.
Earlier in state parliament, Police, Fire and Emergency Management Minister Felix Ellis on Tuesday said "any allegation of this nature is taken very seriously" and the investigation must be allowed to "take its course".
Calls for independent inquiry
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre is demanding an independent inquiry take place, and that the officers involved be stood down, pending the results of that investigation.
His mother Stacey supported the call for an independent inquiry.
"A proper inquiry needs to be done by somebody who doesn't work in the police force, somebody outside," she said.
"Can I trust, can the whole Hobart community trust that the police are going to look deep inside and see what happened?"
"Did they follow the steps they follow in a normal investigation to ensure this is investigated properly?
"I want the people that did this charged with assault and a proper inquiry, not just by the police.
Stacey said it was not the first time police had allegedly assaulted her son and she is afraid about speaking out.
"Have I now put a target on our family's back for speaking out?"
Nala Mansell said it was not uncommon for extra charges to stem from the arrest of an Indigenous person.
"The main point is that he has been taken in just for breaching his bail, breaching his curfew, every single time an Aboriginal person is assaulted by police charges such as abusive language and all those other charges are always put in place by police," she said.
