Cassius Turvey Was Murdered Not Mistaken
Incident
On October 13th Cassius Turvey, a 15 year old Noongar boy, was making his way home from school with his friends. As they were walking the streets of Middle Swan, Perth in broad daylight, they were approached by a 21 year old white man called Jack Brearly. Brearly climbed out of his black ute which contained a group of his friends. He began chasing Cassius with a metal pole, believing the boy had smashed his car window just the day before. Brearly used the metal pole to attack Cassius, creating multiple deep tears in his ear and forehead.
Cassius spent days in both Midland St John of God Hospital and Perth Children’s Hospital, where he was found to have two brain haemorrhages. He was discharged after five days from Perth Children’s Hospital but within hours of arriving home he experienced multiple seizures. On his return to the hospital, he was placed under a medically induced coma to undergo surgery. He died in the hospital ten days after the attack.
Further Actions
Jack Brearly is currently charged with murder and will begin the court process in November. A few weeks after the attack only one perpetrator has been taken into custody for questioning. The WA Homicide Squad are currently investigating the situation including the weapon (metal pole) that still has not been found.
WA Police Commissioner, Col Blanch has described the situation as a non racist motivated crime, despite Cassius’ friends and witnesses claiming that the group of adults were shouting racial slurs during the attack. He has described it as Cassius being, “In the wrong place at the wrong time.” This statement has angered many people especially on social media who believe that a young boy in his school uniform, harmlessly on the street in daylight, shouldn’t have to fear such an assault. In an interview Blanch said, “I do not want to be responsible for prejudicing the case against the defender,” after repeatedly stating how much he’s fought against racism in the community. He also said, “I should not go on record for motivations of crimes, that is for the court process,” continuing with, “Best way that I can achieve the justice for Cassius is to remain silent on the investigation and let the court take its process.” Later, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shared his opinion on the matter saying, “This attack, that clearly is racially motivated, just breaks your heart,” but he hasn’t taken any further action.
Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders have spoken up on the issue, including Hannah McGlade who is a Noongar woman, academic and activist for Aboriginal people’s rights. She compared the situation to the kidnapping of four year old Cleo Smith in 2021, which received a 140 person Task Force Rodia team in the first week of the case and a $1 million dollar award for information on her whereabouts. McGlade said, “When Cleo was abducted a police task force was established and it got the attention the case deserved. Why doesn’t the killing of a young boy deserve that kind of attention?” She also signed the following letter on behalf of her community.
Open letter from Aboriginal leaders
We have come together as a Noongar Nation.
Let’s make this a fight for all of us, for change.
We are hurting, our people are hurting for a long time.
We are standing straight and tall, for our children and young people.
Cassius was the most beautiful young man you could ever meet. Instead, he’s being portrayed differently.
Our kids aren’t bad, but they are portrayed as bad. None of the kids are bad, they have a right to walk the streets.
We need to be a Voice for our young people.
You see them locked up in prison, you don’t see them for who they really are. It seems like our state government just wants kids locked up.
This is our chance to come together for our children. There were several people involved in this very serious attack on our children. Only one has been charged with murder. Why is that?
Why did Perth Children’s Hospital release Cassius from hospital after just 5 days? We know that if a white child was killed like this it would be different.
Cassius was not ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’. He was in his school uniform with his friends in broad daylight.
They set upon him with weapons.
We want our children to stand up to racism. It’s very real in this community. We must respond to this as a Hate crime. That’s what it was.
The Premier and Police Commissioner are telling us to be quiet. We know attacks on our children are real. They are minimizing this horrific killing of young Cassius. This is wrong and dangerous especially as our people are not selected for juries.
We as a Noongar Nation are outraged by this mindless, inhumane, cowardly racist act against an innocent child. We call on Government to meet us now.
The Noongar Nation.Enough is Enough.
Signed: Jim Morrison, Dawn Wallam, David Collard, Donna Nelson, Justin Kickett, Hannah McGlade
Similar Cases
In 2016, 14 year old Elijah Doughty, a Kalgoorlie-Boulder boy was riding a motorbike when he got killed by a 56 year old white man and his two tonne ute, as it ran over him. The man had believed that Elijah had stolen the motorbike from him. His original charge was for manslaughter which was cleared and replaced with three years imprisonment for dangerous driving causing death. He was then granted parole after 19 months in prison.
In 1988 Leslie Sampi, a 20 year old, intellectually disabled, Aboriginal man was murdered in one of the most violent scenarios in WA criminal history by two non Aboriginal men. One was sentenced 3 and a half years of imprisonment for manslaughter and the other man was acquitted.
Overview
Although on paper Commissioner Blanch’s statement can be viewed as reasonable, it has to be questioned whether his reaction would be the same if it was a black man killing a white boy. Or would it all be directed to the gangs and poor circumstances they live in without acknowledging that it’s due to the white government. When Aboriginal people are accused of crimes it is all across the media and arrests are instant. In 2021, First Nations Peoples made up 29% of the adult prison population, 48% of the juveniles in custody but only 3.3% of the country’s overall population.
On The Project Tony Armstrong said “People think that we’re getting better — ‘Oh, we’ve come so far, we’ve come so far’ … Deaths in custody [have] gone up since Blak Lives Matter all happened. There’s never action, there’s only talk and ultimately we don’t want to talk about how this is a racial incident but ultimately, what it has all boiled down to is the value of property has been deemed more than the life of a 15-year-old Black kid. The value of property.”
Since The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in 1987, there have been 500 Aboriginal deaths in custody, that’s an average of 16 a year and more than 1 a month. Why don’t we hear about these tragedies? How many lives, names and legacies have been lost to Australia’s racist system?
Vigils have been held across the country by Aboriginal representatives and Cassius’ family. They are demanding that Cassius’ life wasn’t ended in vain, that he is a symbol and a calling card for the change necessary in our society. Not just small amendments but a demolition of the corrupt and oppressive system that we need to escape. Educate yourself, listen to Aboriginal people’s voices and bring justice for Cassius and all who lie with him.
This article was written by one of our change makers, Soleil Premkumar, age 15.
