The mother of a teenage boy shot dead by Australian police has filed a landmark case with the United Nations, claiming the authorities’ poor handling of the case goes against international law.
Shani Cassidy has brought the complaint to the UN Human Rights Commission alleging Australia has violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by neglecting to ensure independent and effective investigation into the death of his son Tyler, who was 15 years old at the time of his death, reports the Guardian.
Victorian police who shot Tyler five times in a deserted Melbourne skate park in December 2008 where cleared of wrongdoing by a coroner who ruled that they acted within the limits of their training. Tyler was armed with knives, intoxicated and emotionally distressed at the time leading to the confrontation.
“Tyler’s death was investigated by members of the same police force at whose hands he died. The police officers who killed my son were not even treated as suspects,” Cassidy said in a statement.
“They didn’t even ask him his name,” she said, before firing up to 10 bullets at him, five of which “ultimately killed him”.
Victoria state police said they were aware of Cassidy’s complaint regarding her son’s “deeply tragic” death and pledged to “cooperate and provide all appropriate assistance” if the UN chose to investigate, according to AFP.