Curti's inquest ends

The inquest ends today for Roberto Laudisio Curti, who died at the hands of the NSW police after stealing 2 packets of biscuits. The evidence IMO has been appalling, the police justifying what they did and having no regrets about their actions. Now the Brazilian family of his who travelled here for the inquest has had their say:

When they discovered what had happened, Ms Laudisio said the shock was crippling. Even worse, however, was the subsequent investigation and inquest, the lack of co-operation by the police and the evidence given by some officers who were, she said, ''so brave and brutal at night but so cowardly in the day''. 

''There was such a level of brutality on that night that it cannot be ignored,'' Ms Laudisio said. 

Mr Curti was a happy, promising young man. He loved to surf and play the guitar and, within months of moving to Australia to learn English last year, had made many friends and started playing for a first grade football team. 

His parents died of cancer when he was young and his sisters wept as they said they promised their mother before she died that they would ''take care of Beto as if he was our own son''. 

Mr Laudisio, who is scheduled to fly back to Brazil when the inquest ends today, said that losing a nephew to the actions of police was ''just unbelievable''. 

''It's unbelievable how many of the policemen lied and colluded thinking that the family and the members of this court are stupid,'' he said. 

As he looked the barrister for the police force, Bruce Hodgkinson, SC, in the eye, he accused the officers of lying to protect themselves. 

''It was disgusting,'' he said. ''Roberto's behaviour may not have been the most appropriate that night but police decided to punish him. How absurd. He was punished for almost nothing.'' Read more