Statement from Jeffrey ‘Pep’ Anderson, Jeffrey’s father.
My name is Jeffrey Alan Anderson. Everyone calls me Pep. Jeffrey Winmar Anderson (Jeff) is my son.
I have sat here in this Court room for the last two weeks listening to the evidence and being respectful of the things that have been said and done here, even though there’s been upsetting and difficult moments.
There’s been too many Blak deaths in custody. We need people to see it from our side. We need people to stand with us including the courts and especially the Coroner mob.
I’m asking you to listen to what I’m saying and to hear my story and Jeff’s story.
We are Noongar mob, a big family group from all over. We are part of the Ballardong, Yued/Yuat and Whadjuk/Wajuk people. We have ties down south and also towards the north way, my grandfather’s mob is from that country. I have family from all over the place.
I haven’t felt like this inquest understands how police treat Aboriginal people and our and Jeff’s history with police.
The police in WA have been heavy handed with me and most of my family and community. That’s the way it’s always been.
My whole life I’ve seen the cops target Aboriginal people. If police see kids running, most of the time they’ll drive to catchup them up and question them.
Jeff’s cousins have had trouble with WA police. The police chase them until they catch them, question them, and then pin petty charges on them like disorderlies.
They arrest our people for nothing or for petty things, and they’ll try and get some more charges out of the person. The police will bluff to pin more charges on a person.
If the police want you, they’ll circle you; they’ll make sure you have no exit. If they want you really bad, they roughen you right up before they take you, that’s how they treat you.
I’ve heard many experiences of Aboriginal boys being bashed by police and shoving their heads down the toilet.
I’ve been bashed so many times.
A lot happened in the 70s and 80s. We used to get shot at in the Kwinana area. I’ve been shot at a couple of times by police and managed to get away.
When I was younger, the police would take us to police station, put our heads down, smash our heads with phone books. Some fellas were like a talker – police would get them pizza and a cool drink to get them talking. Other fellas were getting bashed. Then they’ll say, “we’re keeping an eye on you, we’re watching you”.
One time, we were in the city, and the police told us to get out of the city, but I wasn’t ready to leave the city yet. They said leave now and get out of the city or get arrested or we’ll bash you. It’s 40-50km from the city back to Armadale where I was staying. We had to walk all the way home from city around 12am. It took us 4 or 5 hours. I would have been 15 or 16 years old at the time.
The 79 squad and motor squad were the worst of the lot. The 79 squad would nearly kill you.
When I was in Longmore Detention Centre, I had lots of yarns. We would say “remember that time” or “what about that time…”. The yarns would keep yarning. The others would say you should’ve heard what happened to me and another would say you should’ve heard what happened to me. It was a lot of trauma but we would all laugh about it at the time. You’d be lucky to be alive to tell the story.
We’re Noongars. The Wongis and Yamatjis have lots of stories about getting taken out to bush, getting flogged and cops making them walk back. There’s language out there too. Those mob don’t understand the system properly. They think they’re signing for bail but they’re signing a statement saying they did it, because they’re not educated enough to know. The police do it and move onto the next one.
Some of the police are just trigger happy.
Most of the time the police do things like that to make rank to detective or Sergeant or to the homicide squad. That’s what happens most of the time over WA way. The police will do anything to get a conviction from anyone easily and most of the time its Aboriginal people that take the fall.
Jeff’s experiences with the police growing up
As a kid, Jeff would have seen the Elders in WA being arrested and mishandled by police. It would have really frightened him. This was something that happened all the time.
Jeff would have seen and heard family and friends taking the blame because of cops targeting them. It happens all the time here and is still happening today.
When Jeff was around 13 or 14, he got a bit of bashing around by police at a few stations around here and the city. Jeff was also treated badly by police in Leongatha.
We know police. We know what police are capable of doing. You’re so helpless when they’re doing what they’re doing. They’re all the same everywhere across the country and across the world I suppose.
Jeff knew this too. Jeff would have been terrified of police.
I can see Jeff’s face in that footage and I just know how scared Jeff was of police that day.
On that day, on 9 November 2023, I think the adrenaline would have had Jeff’s heart racing and panicked. I think Jeff would have been thinking “what are they going to do to me now?” I know what he’d been through with police before.
There have been 3 or 4 deaths in custody in my family and community, all young fellas in their 20s or 30s.
My younger cousins who were 12 or 13 died in a police chase. Two of them were in a car accident. Police followed them. They hit a pole at 100km/h. One of them were saying police rammed them into the pole. There was four of them in the car. Two little ones in the back died on impact. One of them lost a leg, his leg got jammed. The other cousin ran but he didn’t know he had broken legs. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and then that happened with the cops.
Before we lost Jeff, my brother lost his son at Canningvale (Hakea) prison in WA. His name was Jordan Anderson. He was my nephew. He used to stay with me sometimes when I was in living in Kununurra. Jordan and Jeff were around the same age and close. Jordan was 23 years old when he passed away in custody.
In 2022, my cousin also lost her son Ricky-Lee Cound at Canningvale prison. He was 22 years old when he passed away in custody. It happens to a lot of them at Canningvale when they get taken out the back.
The police and prisons are killing us. And no one seems to be taking it seriously.
Since we lost Jeff, there’s been too much sorry business and hurt.
Barely six months since Jeff passed, my nephew was taken from us. He was the same age as Jeff. I was supporting the family after it happened. My dad used to be like that, he was always there for anyone in the community that needed him.
Not long after, there was an incident with another two young guys in the Pilbara. One of the boys died on scene, the other is my nephew, and he was in ICU for a bit. Those young fells reminded me of Jeff.
Since then, I’ve been to too many funerals for family we’ve lost.
I want to tell you about my experience with this coronial process.
Since we lost Jeff and this inquest process started, I’ve spent days and nights reading the brief. I’ve read through every document including every police officer’s statement and the medical reports in the brief many times trying to understand what happened.
I’ve watched the body-worn camera footage and drone footage many times.
I have sat here in this Court room day after day for two weeks listening to the evidence. I have sat through more than a week of police officers talking about my son and what happened to him.
Now I’m asking you to listen to what I’m saying and to hear me.
The police
The police have made Jeff out to be violent, a bad person and a criminal when he wasn’t. It’s disgusting they brought up old irrelevant family violence allegations on the first day and at the directions hearing.
I don’t see how the past allegations and incident with Adrian is at all relevant. My daughter Margaret was there when that incident happened, and she and my kids have had to sit through police bringing up these allegations in this inquest without us being able to say anything. It’s really upsetting.
From this inquest, I want to know how my son died in police custody.
Why did so many police officers come that day to arrest Jeff? My son was not violent. Police knew that. I’m left wondering would police have used the same force if it was a white person? Would police have handcuffed a white person if they were unconscious?
When Jeff was on the roof, why didn’t they call off the chase?
Jeff was terrified of dogs. I’ve watched the BWC. I’ve seen how close the dog gets to Jeff’s face. I know how terrified he would have been. I can see it on his face.
When Jeff collapsed, why did police treat him so poorly? He deserved care. He deserved first aid. They treated Jeff like an animal, like his health and his life didn’t matter. All that mattered was arresting him.
The police’s behaviour towards my son was racist and disgusting. What more does this inquest need to accept that?
If police cared about Jeff, why did they call off the ambulance? If police cared about Jeff, why did they say he’s ‘playing possum’? If police cared about Jeff, why did they move him?
There’s no BWC on the cops. Each of those officers needed to be wearing a BWC that day and always when trying to arrest mob. Otherwise, it’s just their evidence. And from what they’ve been saying, the stories are not adding up.
It stuffs it up for us because we don’t ever get to see what actually happened. The cops get away with a lot.
At the hospital
On 9 November 2023, I got a call from Ursula telling me Jeff was in hospital. I still don’t understand why it took so long for Jeff’s mother to be notified he was in police custody.
I came over straight away from WA. When I saw Jeff in hospital, I felt like he was gone. He had a fresh cut on the left-hand side of his eye, a black eye and bruising on his arm and chest. I still have questions about how Jeff got those injuries.
The doctors kept asking us if we knew what had happened and if Jeff had been in a fight. We didn’t know much then about what had gone on.
Looking back, I think my son had died on Cumming Street. I think he was gone before he got to hospital.
Still no answers
Sitting here today, I still feel like I don’t know much about what happened to my son.
When I came to Melbourne two weeks ago, I thought that process was going to give us answers and justice. I don’t feel like this process is for families. It’s been such a letdown and I don’t have faith it’s ever going to give us what we need. It’s made me want to get on a plane and go home.
My son was 28 years old when he died in police custody. Jeff didn’t just die on his own. I’m asking this court to pay attention to the fact that my son was a proud Noongar maaman who died in police custody. You can’t ignore that he was Aboriginal. There is a history and a pattern here and it can’t just be ignored.
What’s it going to take for people to start taking us seriously when we say that cops are killing our people? My son died because of police’s racism. How many more commissions, inquiries and reports do there need to be for this inquest to wake up and understand what’s happening to us and what happened to my son.
We aren’t going to go away. We deserve to be treated fairly.
My lawyers told me the chief commissioner of police in Victoria made an apology to Aboriginal people in 2023 for police’s actions as part of the Yoorrook (truth telling) commission. My lawyers told me this was a few months before police arrested Jeff.
Sorry means you won’t do it again. There’s no point of having an apology if there’s no follow through with actions. It doesn’t seem like the police’s apology meant anything for the way they treated Jeff.
I believe Jeff’s death could have been prevented.
In WA, we have reps for different mobs. There’s different reps for Noongars, the Wongis, the Whadjuks, the Yamatjis up north. Everyone in the community knows who the reps are and the reps are know the community. The reps are mob and always speak up. The reps have been involved in organise rallies, vigils and protests and standing behind people when they need support. The reps often speak to people that police are looking for and talk to them about handing themselves in. The reps also support people in custody with issues.
In WA, we also have the Aboriginal visitors program where mob goes to visit and support people in custody.
Victoria is much smaller than WA. This government here needs to get behind Aboriginal reps or liaisons to get them to go along to every planned arrest and to help find people when they’re scared and hiding from the cops.
I know Jeffrey wanted to hand himself in and I believe he would’ve. He would ring me up and yarn with me. He wanted to turn things around and be a dad and role model for little Jeff. In the days before he got arrested, he said it to Britney and Tahlia and to me that he wanted to hand himself in. I would’ve been the last one he said it to in one of my last yarns with him.
He just needed time to have the courage to walk into the police station and having a support person whose mob would’ve helped him. He needed someone who had the lived knowledge and had been through that life with drugs to talk to him and support him to hand himself in.
There were many opportunities for police to bring an Aboriginal person on board to get Jeff to hand himself in, but they never gave him the chance.
By the time it got to 9 November 2023, an Aboriginal person should have attended when the police planned to arrest Jeff. Police should have also told us, his family, in the 24 hours before that they were planning to arrest him. The ALS should also have been notified straight away after Jeff got arrested.
Getting Aboriginal mob to walk with the police officers and talk to Jeffrey at the door could make sure police themselves are doing the right thing. It could have offered reassurance to Jeff and made it safer for him to hand himself in. It would have minimised the risk for Jeffrey and police officers. It would have minimised Jeffrey’s fear. And it could have answered questions family have about what’s going on.
My son would have been more comfortable talking to a Noongar or a blak officer than the hyenas who didn’t care what happened to him. My son needed someone there who cared for him, a countryman who he could relate to.
There’s a lot of trauma when it comes to mob. There’s lots of brother boys being killed in custody. It’s fear. And having someone there during the arrest who’s mob and cares for mob would make community members feel different. It would make sure the same situation, what happened to Jeff, doesn’t happen again.
This government needs to get behind programs like that. There needs to be more funding and resources to have Aboriginal supports for people dealing with police and for people in custody.
Since losing Jeff, I tell my kids now, don’t give police a reason to mark you or hurt you.
I want answers about what happened to my son Jeff. Who is responsible?
There’s still lots of questions. The police’s stories are not adding up.
My kids ask me why. They are still grieving. They cry for Jeff. They deserve answers about what happened to their brother. His mother and I deserve answers about what happened to our boy.
On Jeff’s one year anniversary, I sat with him at the cemetery until the night. It broke me to lose Jeff. It still breaks me.
We’ll rest easier and I know he’ll rest easier knowing the truth about what happened. Just knowing can prevent Aboriginal people from being hurt in future.
We need people to stand with us. Change is what we’re talking about.