White power, black rage
08.11.1997
By: KOCH A Source: QNP
When those blokes had me down and I saw the brick coming, I thought I was dead
MT ISA rodeo star Lyman Craigie didn't know what had hit him. Even for a little man who had gained a big reputation for staring down some of the toughest rodeo bulls in the north, this was a moment of chilling brutality.
Inside the rodeo ring, Craigie knew to expect the unexpected from the bucking fury of an enraged bull. But this came completely out of the blue. Or out of the black.
First came a loud bang on the roof of the car in which he was travelling home from a nightclub. A large rock had apparently been thrown from the footpath.
When Craigie and his travelling companion stopped to investigate, he was dragged from the vehicle by three men and bashed _ savagely and repeatedly.
After beating him unconscious, they slammed a concrete block on to his head more than a dozen times.
Jockey-sized Craigie was shockingly injured, his scalp all but torn from his skull.
The reason for the attack? The colour of his skin.
This is the ugly face of Australian racism.
Craigie, 20, had not said a word, had not made a gesture, had not in any way incited the terrible violence against him. He did not even know the men and had not seen them before in his life.
His assailants had screamed how they hated ``black c....s'' and how they were going to kill him.
Craigie was no match for his drunken, crazed attackers.
Police and court officials commented that the assault was one of the worst examples of random racial violence seen in Australia in decades.
And the racism did not end with his assailants running off into the night in an attempt to escape the terrible deed they had done.
When their subsequent trial was held in Cairns District Court, more than a dozen of their colleagues _ skinheads adorned with swastikas _ patrolled the public gallery.
On the opening morning, this group of hangers-on mouthed threats to Craigie. A police officer who witnessed threats suggested quietly to the youngster that he should bring some of his own supporters to the next day's proceedings.
``I did too,'' said Craigie. ``I made a couple of calls and my cousins and a few others turned up. The skinheads didn't have anything to say at all and they weren't there at all the following day.
``But they did go to one of my mate's places and call out to him `white power' and that sort of garbage, but when he came out on the footpath and offered to give them a bit of black power, they tucked their tails between their legs.
``Skinheads, what a joke. This is Australia, not Nazi Germany.''
Craigie said he had not previously encountered racism. He had attended school at Mt Isa, played in local football teams and ``did a bit of boxing''. But there were no racist taunts.
That the sadistic attack was racially inspired was noted by District Court Judge Michael Forde when sentencing the three following their conviction on charges relating to the appalling injuries inflicted on Craigie.
Judge Forde said: ``This week saw the meeting of leaders of all political persuasions and representatives of indigenous groups throughout Australia.
``It was an attempt at a national reconciliation.
``The evidence which we have heard in this court this week reflects conduct of a bygone era. The violence and hatred generated in such a short time on the occasion of these events this morning is disturbing.
``Those persons in the community who acquiesce in or promote such attitudes should be reminded that the court made up of the jury and the judiciary will not tolerate such conduct where it leads to a breach of the criminal law.
``The punishment imposed on these three young men will not be based upon prejudice or emotion, but on the need to uphold the law and to protect innocent persons, whether they be black or white.''
But people who are born and bred in Queensland's harsh inland are made of special stuff, and Craigie is typical.
Medical evidence to the court was that he suffered ``a large laceration across his forehead that had de-scalped upwards and backwards. The underlying muscles and periosteum had been lacerated with bare bone exposed.
``There was a large laceration over the middle of the occiput which had de-gloved down the back of the neck for about seven centimetres,'' the evidence read. ``The muscles that normally originate from the posterior of the occiput were detached.
``The patient was drowsy and confused, although his neurological observations were stable. His confusion and drowsiness were slow to improve over many days.
``A later scan demonstrated a contusion of the left frontal lobe of the brain.''
The medical prognosis was that he would take up to nine months to recover and resume his occupation as a stockman.
But within three months this tough little guy was back riding brahman bulls in rodeos.
He still experiences some dizzy spells and headaches. His forehead bears a dreadful patchwork of scar tissue.
Clinical psychiatrist Dr Ian Curtis, who examined Craigie, wrote: ``Your client is a strong, genuine man of good potential who has worked hard to rehabilitate himself and to minimise the harms from the trauma. He is physically scarred for life.
``He is already active and is progressively mobilising himself back to work.''
The desire to get back to employment and particularly to the competitive rodeo arena has been all Craigie has thought about.
``I've been doing it since I was 14 and I love riding _ bareback broncs and the bulls,'' he said.
``Dad was a champion rodeo rider and everybody knows him, so I'm following in his footsteps.
``I don't get frightened. I must say when those blokes had me down and I saw the brick coming, I thought I was dead. But riding bulls is something I love doing and I'd never get frightened.''
Craigie's courage and toughness earned him new respect among his rodeo-rider mates. The ugly scars on his forehead tell the story for all to see, and they won't sit back and see their mate set upon again. These blokes stick together.
In fact, coming back so quickly to the buckjump arena cost Craigie dearly. In making his award for criminal compensation, Judge Forde noted that his injuries were not permanent, and therefore $30,000 was awarded, not the $75,000 maximum available.
Judge Forde said: ``The psychiatric report says that Mr Craigie suffered a moderate to severe post-traumatic stress disorder for six months and that he would recover by nine months post trauma.
``I observed the applicant at trial. He was a young, bright, intelligent man who impressed in his evidence, obviously, in this case, and had, on the face of it, made a full recovery.
Continued WEEKEND 4
White power, black rage
From WEEKEND 1
``IT WAS a nasty attack and was clearly a racist attack on him which would also be something which affects his reaction and residual mental stress as a result of this incident.
``He was in no way blameworthy for this event.''
There does not seem to be any rational reason for the attack.
One of the convicted attackers, Thane Bakhash, 19, had previous convictions for assaulting police, possessing an unlicensed pistol and wilful damage. He had a Year 10 standard of education and was the one who first returned to Craigie's prostrate body and dropped the brick on his head.
Bakhash has not previously spent time in jail. Judge Forde sentenced him on this occasion to three years' imprisonment for inflicting grievous bodily harm on Craigie.
The principal offender was Arthur Hall, 24, who sat on top of Craigie and hit him on the head twice with the concrete brick.
He had many previous convictions for violence _ mainly on police. At the time of this offence, he was on probation for convictions for assaulting police. He was sentenced to six years' imprisonment with no recommendation regarding parole.
Jason Dunn, 20, had breached a probation order imposed for throwing a molotov cocktail and fighting. He was the only one of the three who was prepared to plead guilty to grievous bodily harm.
Dunn was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for the assault on Craigie and a further year for breaching the probation order. All three are serving their sentences in Townsville's Stuart prison.
When the compensation award finally comes through, Craigie intends to ``put the money in the bank and just let it grow''.
He'd like to buy a vehicle at some time to get to the rodeos held in the far-flung towns of rural Queensland.
``I've been to Brisbane twice in my life _ both times to Boonah where I attended rodeo schools,'' he said. ``I'd like to compete in the big southern rodeos like Warwick.''
But the battle is not quite over for this tough little guy.
His solicitor, Tony Bailey _ who has more than 100 similar victims of crime on his books for whom he is battling bureaucracy for compensation _ warns that the court award is not the end of the story.
Under Queensland legislation, victims like Lyman Craigie have to run the gauntlet of the State Justice Department, which takes an inordinately long time to make payments.
The department is not bound to pay the amount set by the court and regularly comes up with its own computations and assessments _ of much lower amounts.
But the Government's bean-counters will find they have a tough customer if they take on the bull rider from the north. He won't say ``die'' very easily.
As the little guy put it: ``I've got too much to live for to bother with drinking and fighting _ there's rodeos on every weekend and that's where you'll find me.''
At the weekend, when he's not travelling to a rodeo, Craigie lives at home in Mt Isa with his mother. His work during the week takes him to the cattle stations in the local region.
He grins at the observation that he has the facial features of a very young Cassius Clay and says that comparison is often made. ``If I could fight like Cassius maybe this would never have happened,'' he said, laughing at his own suggestion.
If ever there was a bloke born with the courage to survive, it has to be this youngster. They don't come any tougher.
