The officer in charge of detainees at Maitland police station when Rebecca Lyn Maher died in a cell of mixed drug toxicity did not conduct the routine and required screening process before the 36-year-old was locked up, an inquest into the Wiradjuri woman's death has heard.
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Senior Constable Gregory Hosie, who was custody manager on the morning of July 19, 2016, told the inquest on Thursday he did not complete the questionnaire on the computerised Custody Management System that required him to talk to Ms Maher and assess her health and mental condition.
Senior Constable Hosie said this was because Ms Maher appeared to be "seriously intoxicated", so he planned to wait until she "sobered up". He told the court he now understood the risk assessment questions to be "very important".
When prompted to flag whether Ms Maher was of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage in the Custody Management System, the officer selected "not known", because he said "to me, she didn't look Aboriginal".
The court also heard he was unaware at the time it was a legal requirement that Ms Maher be given the chance to contact a responsible person to take her into their care and that he did not attempt to find such a person.
"She was only there as an intoxicated person - she wasn't there for any crime," Senior Constable Hosie said.
Related reading:
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- Inquest day one: Woman had more than 30 pills with her when she died in police cell
- Inquest day two: Witness tells of Rebecca Maher's final days
- Woman found dead at Maitland police station
- Rebecca Maher's family still looking for answers one year after her death in Maitland police station cell
"It was my intention to let her sleep, sober up and give her some food in the morning."
The court also heard he believed at the time it was acceptable to inspect an intoxicated detainee by checking a CCTV feed.
"At the time I thought that was an OK method, I now know it wasn't," he said.
Senior Constable Hosie will return to the witness box to finish giving evidence before the inquest is complete.
Earlier, Dr John Vinen, an emergency physician with 40 years experience, told the court it was "inadequate" to assess an intoxicated person without interacting with them.
He said police were at a disadvantage to medical professionals when assessing an intoxicated person so they should "rely on training and guidelines".
Dr Vinen said it was "more than a once a day occurrence" for police to send an intoxicated person to the St Vincent's emergency department in Sydney to be assessed by medical professionals.
He said incoherence, unsteadiness on foot and breathing were among the factors that needed to be considered as part of a "global picture" and that the safest way of dealing with an intoxicated person displaying these warning signs was to call paramedics to assess the person.
The court also heard from clinical toxicologist Professor Alison Jones, who said levels in Ms Maher's body indicated she had consumed a dose of methadone within eight hours of her death - beyond what had been prescribed to her.
The inquest continues on Friday.
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