The family of Cherdeena Wynne are begging the Coroner for the cause of death of the young woman who died at Perth Royal Hospital after being admitted when she became unresponsive while being restrained by police.
In April, Ms Wynne, 26, had been involved in a string of incidents with WA Police which initially started when the police followed her believing she was a different Aboriginal woman. The police allegedly had two more seperate interactions with Ms Wynne including the final one where they handcuffed her to “prevent injury to herself and emergency services”.
Ms Wynne’s death is still being investigated by the State Coroner and has not been ruled a death in custody nor death in police presence.
Her grandmother, Nanna Jennifer Clayton says she has not had any contact with police or the coroner’s office for about a month.
“The coroner hasn’t been communicating with me as well, all we need is to have some information, some sort of a result of what happened to Deena and the cause of her death,” Ms Clayton told NITV News.
“We’re going to have the funeral this Friday and bury my granddaughter without even knowing what’s happened to her.”
The Coroner's office told NITV News in a statement that the court investigates all the circumstances surrounding a death which has been reported.
"The Court’s policy is not to make public information pertaining to matters which are being investigated. The Court will, however, liaise with family members and their legal representatives of the ongoing investigations which are being undertaken," the statement said.
Ms Clayton said the family had initially been approved to view the preliminary autopsy report but says there’s been a change of who is handling her granddaughter’s case and now the family won’t be allowed to view the results.
The grandmother says the constant delays are starting to affect the family’s grieving process.
“It's just not good enough, it's not culturally appropriate for our people. It’s just adding more stress and more trauma to us for the grieving, it's building, and building and building,” she said.
“Where’s their compassion? Can't they communicate with family to let us know where they’re at with their investigation.”
Ms Clayton says the family may have to wait six to 12 months until they finally get answers as to why and how Cherdeena died.
“I’m gonna be standing at her gravesite this weekend and saying, ‘oh I’m burying my granddaughter and I don’t even know what happened to her.’”
