Upper Yarra
3 Tuesday, 11 November, 2014
Warburton Anzac funding
20
Mail Covering the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges Shire
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■ Inquest findings soon on Sinclair death...
Justice on hold
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WORKING hard is in the DNA of Wandin couple Alex and Petra Prousialkas. And a sense of humour, is definitely in their make-up too. Alex and Petra celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last week and they plan to be together for a while yet. “I can’t get rid of her,” Alex jokes. “If I talk about going into a nursing home, she says she is coming too.” Petra came to Australia from Greece with her family in 1948 and Alex arrived six years later, as he recalls, single and looking for a better life. “To me, this is still paradise because I was very poor back in the old country,” he says. They met at the Richmond Town Hall dances and were married at the Greek Orthodox Church on 7 November 1954. They are proud of the life they have made here by working hard, raising two children, and sticking together through the ups and downs of life. Petra worked on the family farm on the morning of their wedding and well into her pregnancies, returning to work afternoon shift after the children were born. Alex worked picking grapes in South Australia and then at the Lucas battery factory. Ask them if, after 60 years, they have any advice to young couples starting out and Alex can’t resist. “You never think you’re going to live that long,” he says with a big, teasing grin. “He’s always joking,” says Petra. But marriage is no joking matter. “We love each other, and we work together for the same things,” she says. And Alex agrees. –Kath Gannaway
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THE family of David Sinclair will have to wait until 2015 for the finding into his death two years ago. The second sitting of a Coronial Inquest into the tragic death of the 23-year old Warburton man, at Warburton on Saturday 1 June 2012, was held in Melbourne on Thursday 6 November. State Coroner Judge Ian Gray continued the inquest which on 3 June this year heard evidence that the cause of David’s death was mechanical asphyxia. David died after being tackled to the ground and pinned down by a 19-year-old man who told last week’s inquest he believed David to be the person he saw looking into his room through a window at a guest house where he and his girlfriend were staying. The first hearing heard evidence around the cause of death from forensic pathologist Dr Heinrich Bouwer and evidence from Yarra Ranges CIU Detective Senior Constable Paul Edyvane around the decision not to prosecute criminal charges in relation to the death. Thursday’s hearing introduced new witnesses, including police who were first on the scene, the 19-year-old and his then girlfriend, and the owner of the guest house. There was forensic questioning of the police witnesses around why no attempt was made to resuscitate David and of other witnesses as to how he was held on the ground and for how long, and of the 19-yearold who was asked by both the Sinclair family barrister Michelle Mykytowycz and Judge Gray, as to when he believed David had stopped moving.
“One of the concerns for Sinclair’s family is that they just want to understand what happened on that day,” Ms Mykytowycz said in questioning the 19-year-old. In response to questions about the decision not to perform CPR, the inquest heard from the police officers that from their reading of vital signs and other observations they believed David had been dead “for some time” and that CPR would have been to no avail. Judge Gray directed a number of questions at police around police training in CPR, particularly in relation to what factors come into play when officers are called on to make a decision as to whether or not to attempt resuscitation. The 19-year-old in response to questions about the way in which he was restraining David, said he felt he was using “an adequate amount of pressure” but said he did not believe it to be excessive. Judge Gray said he would allow two months for further submissions after transcripts of Thursday’s inquest were made available to all the parties. He said that in the course of his findings, should he consider the need to make any recommendations in relation to CPR there would be an opportunity for further submissions. In response to Judge Gray’s comment that he would keep an open mind as to whether he would call the matter back into court for the delivery of his findings, or, as he indicated, follow the normal procedure of advising by mail, David’s mother, Annette Sinclair, said she believed the findings into her son’s death should be delivered in the court. “I will keep fighting for justice for David,” she said.
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By KATH GANNAWAY
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