Courting With Justice

Posing the question “What if the Australian legal system was not based on the British model, but rather on one of the oldest legal systems in the world, Indigenous Australian customary law?” Courting with Justice is a dramatic portrayal of the retrial of a bar manager charged with the manslaughter of a young Aboriginal man.

Several years ago a former Norseman pub manager was charged with the manslaughter of Kevin Rule, a member of the Ngadju Nation, but later found not guilty. The dead man’s partner, Daniella Borg, is certain the manager’s lethal punch killed Kevin and feels the Australian judicial system has not provided her with justice.

Daniella has decided to have a re-trial. This time it is to be set on her husband’s traditional land, within the framework of the oldest law in the country. The case is going before an Indigenous customary law court. Will the outcome be any different than it was when the case was tried in the British-style Australian law courts?

The playing out of the customary law hearing itself is gritty and observational. The accused is not the actual perpetrator of the crime, but is played by a white actor, The Dish’s Roy Billing. He is confronted, both in and out of character, by cultural and procedural differences in the Indigenous customary law court.

A gritty drama-documentary, Courting with Justice takes a black perspective on dominant white legal systems, turning the tables on how justice is done in Australia.

Thursday, 8 January, 9:25pm

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  • Appalled

    I’ve just watched this documentary, and was appalled at the inferences made. Subjecting little children to sorry camps is child abuse. Traditional law may work for extended family groups, but has no place operating in the wider community. Can you imagine it?
    Publicans in small W.A or N.T towns are subjected to all manner of behaviour which puts them at odds with their indigenous clientele. If you die after hitting your head because one punched you, its your own dammned fault. I witnessed a white man die in exactly the same circumstances in Alice Springs. The man who hit him was a Maori. Was their ethnicicty ever brought up? No. The Maori spent time in remand waiting for his court date, then was (righlty, IMO) let off.
    The real issue glaring from this ABC documentary, (and most other ABC work with indigenous content is the “poor bugger me gurindji”, YET AGAIN. I am growing so tired of it. Please. To the indigenous people of Australia. Do better. Give something. Make a difference.
    You may have survived for eons, but really, survival is not enough. Not by a long shot. You can start by stopping the drink. It clearly does not agree with you.