Tanya Day's loved ones have gasped and cried as distressing footage of the Aboriginal woman falling and hitting her head five times in a Victorian police cell was played during an inquest into her death.
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Supporters of the Yorta Yorta grandmother shook their heads as CCTV video showed Ms Day, 55, repeatedly falling and hitting her head at Castlemaine Police Station on December 5, 2017.
She'd been picked up for being drunk on a train and died 17 days later from a brain haemorrhage.
The video played in the coroners court on Monday showed Ms Day staggering, falling and striking her head between 4.20pm and 6.40pm.
Police did not go into the cell until 8pm, when Sergeant Edwina Neale asked about a 20-cent sized purple bruise that had appeared on the woman's head.
Her colleague, Leading Senior Constable Danny Wolters, said he'd seen Ms Day slip off the bed at some point.
He had been tasked with checking on her every 20 minutes, either in person or on CCTV.
By this time, officers were worried and called an ambulance.
"It was a concern but not a huge panic," Sgt Neale told the inquest.
Ms Day arrived at hospital in Bendigo shortly before 10.30pm. She was in a critical condition. Medical staff believed she had taken some kind of drug.
"To my knowledge Tanya had not taken anything in the cell. I only conducted a pat-down search and did not conduct a full search," Sgt Neale said.
When police spoke to Ms Day's brother, he said the family believed she had a medical condition, possibly cancer or a liver problem, but wouldn't talk about it.
Joe Day believed his sister had been on the way to Melbourne to see a doctor when she was arrested on the train at Castlemaine.
She entered the station smelling of alcohol, unsteady on her feet and was "quite belligerent," making it clear she didn't want to be there, Sgt Neale said.
Ms Day's family couldn't pick her up so she was put in a cell to sleep it off.
Footage played at the inquest showed Const Wolters and his colleague Wayne Cairnes checking on Ms Day through a window for a few seconds shortly before 5pm and then walking away.
She can be seen sprawled on the bed but neither man went inside.
"To me it would be a very personal thing for a female to be in custody and have two men enter her cell," Leading Senior Constable Cairnes said.
"People deserve their privacy and dignity in the cell."
He added he would have had to remove his weapons before going in.
Coroner Caitlin English is examining whether racism contributed to Ms Day's death.
Australian Associated Press
