ACM Lie Leads to Suicide Attempt
On June 2nd, a woman who had travelled from Adelaide to visit a
refugee nurse incarcerated at the Woomera Detention Centre, was told
that the young woman she wished to visit did not want to see her.
The visitor had a letter from the refugee nurse requesting the visit.
It had been officially approved by the Department of Immigration. It
would have been the nurse's first visit from anyone in Australia, in
the many months that she has been held at Woomera.
The truth was that the anxious young mother, who holds a Bachelor of
Science Degree in nursing, had eagerly anticipated the visit. The
ACM guard lied. He was simply too lazy or uncaring to go and inform
the woman that she had a visitor. The guard apparently acted
arbitrarily in cancelling the visit.
Later in the day, the same guard co-operated in organising a visit
with another female detainee, but he insisted on sitting in on the
conversation and interjected every time that he disagreed with
anything that the detainee said. His manner, according to the woman
from Adelaide, was overbearing and obnoxious. Any time he was
challenged or questioned, his reply was, "Tell it to Canberra."
When the refugee mother who had missed the visit was told that her
only visit had been denied, it became the last straw in a series of
disappointments. It appears that in the same week, she had been
approved for a visa, and then the Department of Immigration had
decided to appeal against the decision. Rather than being free while
the appeal is processed, she was told that she would still be held in
custody. (NOTE: This information has not yet been conclusively
verified, although the woman is definitely still being held in
custody, and she is not being allowed visitors.)
She wrote a letter the next day to a pen friend in Melbourne. She
said of the cancelled visit, that it was "because they don't want
anyone to know about our suffering in here." Then the letter
continued:
"I've prepared something for dying. Just I tell you before. I can't
continue. It means I must lose the time. I can't more. I will die
because Ruddock and Howard's dirty policy. Goodbye."
After posting the letter, she seriously slashed herself, and was
rushed to the Woomera Hospital, where she is still being treated.
It is only a matter of time before one of these suicide attempts is
successful. Another mother is in the same hospital, recovering from
serious burns that she received in a suicide attempt nearly two
months ago. It is rumoured that the DIMIA reaction to that suicide
attempt has been to charge the woman with arson. (That information
also has not been verified.)
Dave McKay
Refugee Embassy
Post Restante
Woomera 5720
Phone: 0407-238805
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