Police have dropped their investigation into claims a four-year-old Aboriginal girl was assaulted byan employee of a Big W store in South Australia, saying that CCTV footage showed no crime had been committed.
The investigation was launched last month after the girl's family claimed that Big W staff in Port Augusta had racially profiled the girl. Her grandmother, Regina McKenzie, previously told NITV News that a staff member had grabbed the girl by her hoodie and hurt her neck.
South Australia Police told the ABC they had now reviewed CCTV footage and determined that there was no assault.
Police had previously closed the investigation shortly after first launching it, only to reopen it again days later.
The family's lawyer, George Newhouse, told the ABC the family would complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission because police had failed to interview the girl or explain to them why they halted the investigation.
Adnyamathanha Elder and Port Augusta local, Vince Coulthard, previously told NITV News that racial profiling was common in Port Augusta shopping centres.
“The family went in there just to get new clothing and apparently the staff there wanted to check the tags on the clothing because they thought they had stolen it,” said Mr Coulthard in June. “It happens here in Port Augusta all the time."
Big W told the ABC it had introduced new cultural awareness training for its Port Augusta staff.
