The coronial inquest held last year considered whether systematic racism was a factor in the way the Yorta Yorta woman was treated by authorities, and ultimately her death.On December 5, 2017, Ms Day was removed from a train in Castlemaine and arrested for public drunkenness and taken into police custody, where she hit her head multiple times in the holding cell.
The most significant fall resulted in a brain haemorrhage. She was eventually transferred to hospital and underwent surgery but did not regain consciousness. She died in hospital on December 22, 2017.
In a final written submission to the inquest in November, Ms Day's family called for a criminal investigation to follow the coronial inquest, arguing it is "possible" police committed offences which coroner Caitlin English should refer to the Department of Public Prosecutions.
They also want the coroner to acknowledge systemic racism and unconscious bias were central to Ms Day's death, because public drunkenness laws were more likely to beapplied to her as an Aboriginal woman.
At the time Ms Day died, Aboriginal women were 10 times more likely to be arrested for being drunk in public than non-Aboriginal women.
In August 2019, just days before the start of the inquest, the Victorian Government announced a plan to abolish this offence.
The coroner will now consider all the evidence before her and prepare her factual findings in the inquest and may also make comments and recommendations on matters connected to the death, including recommendations relating to public health and safety or the administration of justice.
In line with the court’s response to COVID-19, alternative arrangements for delivery of the finding will be co-ordinated.
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