Prison guard lied to Veronica Nelson in the hours before her death in custody, inquest told

A jail guard lied to Indigenous lady Veronica Nelson about calling a nurse to assist her within the hours earlier than she died, an inquest into her loss of life has heard.

The inquest has been instructed Nelson screamed in ache and complained of cramps in her legs and fingers earlier than she was discovered useless in her cell at Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in January 2020. The Yorta Yorta lady had made greater than a dozen calls to jail guards for assistance on the evening she died.

Nelson had been arrested three days earlier on suspicion of shoplifting and was denied bail.

The inquest was instructed that on the morning of her loss of life, Nelson referred to as guard Tracey Brown on the intercom at 2.13am, when Brown suggested her to drink fluids and stated she didn't suppose the nurse would return to her cell.

Nelson made one other name at 2.42am, saying she was cramping badly, and Brown pretended she had referred to as the nurse when she had not. Within the subsequent name at 3.33am, Brown instructed Nelson that she couldn't get anybody to return to her cell.

Below examination, Brown agreed she had lied to Nelson and had failed in her responsibility to verify on her after she turned unresponsive throughout an intercom change.

Whereas jail nurse Atheana George had given Nelson medicine by way of a entice in her cell door earlier that evening, she had not gone into the cell to verify on her, the inquest heard.

Nelson was discovered useless about 7.30am on 2 January, a number of hours after her closing name.

She died from undiagnosed Wilkie’s syndrome, in a setting of heroin withdrawal.

Greater than 60 witnesses have been anticipated to be referred to as at a month-long inquest, inspecting the adequacy of jail healthcare, the affect of Nelson’s Aboriginality and Victorian bail legal guidelines.

The inquest is constant.

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