A police officer has admitted at a coronial inquest she failed to properly check on an Aboriginal woman in custody who she previously heard moaning in pain after a hospital visit.
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.
Senior Constable Nicola Murphy, who was issued with a managerial notice for failing to follow cell check procedures, admitted on Tuesday she made an error when she indicated on the system she did a physical check when she only looked at the camera.
Sen Const Murphy heard Ms Dhu, 22, moaning at night after she returned from her first of three hospital visits before her death.
But she waited another hour to check on Ms Dhu, despite the policy being to check on high-risk detainees every half an hour.
Sen Const Murphy did not have an independent recollection but said she felt there was no need to make such regular checks.
Constable Jamie Buck testified Ms Dhu was groaning from pain in her ribs when she took her to hospital the first time.
Ms Dhu was not handcuffed and leaned on Const Buck's arm for support when they arrived.
Const Buck believed Ms Dhu was genuinely in pain, but heard from another officer she could have been faking it.
She said a nurse rolled her eyes during the examination after Ms Dhu recoiled and cried out in pain when the nurse barely touched her.
But Const Buck said that annoyed her and she was concerned Ms Dhu, who remained compliant, would not be taken seriously.
"Her crying out might have been loud, but that's understandable," she said.
The doctor who treated Ms Dhu the first time previously testified police told her Ms Dhu's pain suddenly got worse when she was told she would be incarcerated.
Const Buck said she might have relayed that to the doctor after another officer told her that information, but could not remember who she heard it from.
Constable Hafiz Shaw also took Ms Dhu to the hospital with Const Buck and testified he told a sergeant what he observed but never expressed his personal opinion.
He said Ms Dhu screamed in pain when the nurse only touched her shirt and later laughed and pointed at someone she knew as they left the hospital.
Const Shaw said he initially had no doubt her injury was real but later thought she was exaggerating.
Both constables were among a group issued with letters of corrective advice for failing to record information about Ms Dhu's condition.
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.
The inquest continues.
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