{"id":65494,"date":"2025-08-13T16:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T16:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/65494\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T16:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T16:29:08","slug":"nt-police-officer-involved-in-alice-springs-death-in-custody-leads-case-against-kumanjayi-whites-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/65494\/","title":{"rendered":"NT police officer involved in Alice Springs death in custody leads case against Kumanjayi White’s father"},"content":{"rendered":"

The police prosecutor who was involved in the death in custody of Kumanjayi White in Alice Springs is now involved in the prosecution of Mr White’s father.<\/p>\n

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family.<\/p>\n

The ABC understands NT prosecutor Steven Haig was one of two plain-clothed officers involved in restraining Mr White at Coles supermarket on May 27.<\/p>\n

Mr White’s arrest followed an alleged confrontation with security guards inside the supermarket.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Warlpiri man from Yuendumu, who was living in Alice Springs due to his disabilities, died soon after his arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi White’s death in police custody ignited vigils around Australia.\u00a0 (ABC News: Marcus Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Mr White’s death prompted a wave of vigils around Australia and an outpouring of grief from Mr White’s family.<\/p>\n

Mr Haig has continued working as a police prosecutor in Alice Springs, while NT Police investigate Mr White’s death and “whether any criminality was involved”.<\/p>\n

Nearly three months on, the cause of Mr White’s death remains undetermined<\/a> as NT Police wait for a forensic pathologist to “complete further investigation”.<\/p>\n

NT Police has previously said the initial autopsy was inconclusive.<\/p>\n

Police have also ruled out the possibility of an independent inquiry into Mr White’s death, despite repeated calls from his family, community groups, advocates and politicians.<\/p>\n

‘He shouldn’t be working’<\/p>\n

Mr White’s father by kinship, Martin ‘Isaac’ Jabarula White, appeared in custody on Wednesday at Alice Springs Local Court, charged with contravening a domestic violence order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court heard the charges were dismissed as they were “improperly laid” due to an administrative error.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Court documents seen by the ABC show Mr Haig signed off on this improperly laid charge.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Vigils have been held outside Coles supermarket, where Kumanjayi White was restrained by police. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court, Mr White told the ABC it was wrong Mr Haig could sign off on his charges given the officer’s involvement in his son’s death.<\/p>\n

“He shouldn’t be working,” Mr White said.<\/p>\n

“My message is just: get him out of [a] job.”<\/p>\n

Soon after being granted bail, Mr White was arrested and charged again over the same offence when retrieving his personal items from the police watch house.<\/p>\n

He will now spend a second night in custody at the Alice Springs watch house.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups and the police union have previously raised concerns about conditions inside the NT’s overcrowded police watch houses<\/a>, where the lights remain on 24 hours a day.<\/p>\n

In a statement, NT Police said it “will not be identifying any of the individuals involved in the incident”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“No charges have been laid in relation to this incident and the officers involved have not been stood down,” the spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The community can be assured that a thorough investigation is being carried out to determine the circumstances and cause of Kumanjayi White’s death.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The police prosecutor who was involved in the death in custody of Kumanjayi White in Alice Springs is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[21167,43,52188,44,1098,17189,1158,52184,52185,52187,52186,41,39,42,40,52190,52189],"class_list":["post-65494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-death-in-custody","tag-headlines","tag-kumanjayi-white","tag-news","tag-nt","tag-nt-police","tag-police","tag-police-prosecution","tag-police-prosecutor","tag-steve-haig","tag-steven-haig","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-warlpiri","tag-white-death-in-custody"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}