Mapping Race and Violence in Settler States
‘She was just a statistic with the DPP and with them. You know, it was just another Indigenous girl, we’ll sweep it under the carpet. You know, they’re a dime a dozen, this happens all the time, we’ll let it go … I was wondering, if it would’ve been two Aboriginal boys had done that to a white girl, I reckon they’d be still in jail.’
Gordon Davis, Lynette Daley’s Stepfather
‘Is our legal system tolerating and even encouraging the femicide of Indigenous women?’
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Repeated obstruction by the legal system
Adrian Attwater and Paul Maris were the sole suspects for Lynette Daley’s killing and were initially charged in 2011.
However, in 2012 the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) declined to prosecute then.
Following a 2014 Coronial Inquest held into the death of Lynette Daley (Norma), Coroner Michael Barnes concluded there ‘can be no doubt the injury which led to Norma’s death was inflicted by Mr Attwater’, and again referred the case to the DPP.
Despite this referral, the DPP once more declined to prosecute.
Eventually, following an expose on the TV program 4 Corners, titled Callous Disregard, which highlighted the facts of Lynette Daley’s death, and domestic and international exposure by Indigenous women, the DPP reviewed their decision not to prosecute and charged the two men the following month.
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