Supporters of an Aboriginal woman who died in custody have lashed out at a policeman who claimed at a coronial inquest he did all he could to save her, while another officer has wiped away tears during her testimony.
Ms Dhu, whose first name is not used for cultural reasons, died two days after being locked up at Western Australia's South Hedland Police Station in August 2014 for unpaid fines totalling $3622, stemming from offences including assaulting an officer.
Constable Callan George testified on Monday at the resumption of the inquest in Perth, which originally started late last year, he arrested Ms Dhu and her partner Dion Ruffin without incident and they did not require handcuffs.
But when they arrived at the lock-up, Ms Dhu, 22, began limping and told him she had seen a doctor about her broken rib.
Const George was also the lock-up keeper when Ms Dhu was taken to hospital a second time and was heard on CCTV footage played to the court saying upon her return: "Paracetamol? Paracetamol, after all that?"
The officer said he formed the view Ms Dhu was faking it and he heard officers say she might have been coming down from drugs, but could not recall who suggested it.
Ms Dhu died during her third visit in as many days to the Hedland Health Campus from staphylococcal septicaemia and pneumonia, following an infection in her fractured ribs that spread to her lungs.
Const George said he could not believe it when Ms Dhu died, describing it as very regrettable and saying it affected him personally.
"I did everything that I could," he told Ms Dhu's family in court, prompting some supporters to call him a liar.
Sergeant Ronald Patchett testified he told an officer to take Ms Dhu to hospital the first time, saying: "Make sure she's cuffed and don't trust her."
He said he did not know Ms Dhu but 99 per cent of the time he would handcuff a detainee.
The inquest heard sometimes detainees faked illness to escape, but Sgt Patchett believed Ms Dhu's injury was serious.
Constable Carrie Sharples also testified she believed Ms Dhu was in genuine pain before her first hospital visit and Ms Dhu was not handcuffed while they waited together for her to be picked up.
"You learn when people are going to be a risk to you ... she didn't display any of those signs," she said.
Const Sharples did not believe Ms Dhu was exaggerating her symptoms, despite her return from hospital about 20 minutes later, but thought she might have a low threshold for pain.
She wiped away tears while describing seeing Ms Dhu shortly before her death two days later.
Video played in court showed an officer saying to another detainee it was "a good deterrent not to take drugs" but Const Sharples said she believed it was more serious.
The inquest continues.
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