Inquest into the Death of Owen Duker Nugget WEAZEL
Inquest into the Death of Owen Duker Nugget WEAZEL
Delivered on : 16 September 2025
Delivered at : Perth
Finding of : Acting State Coroner Linton
Recommendations : Yes
Recommendation No. 1
I recommend that Treasure give priority to funding the Department of Justice to undertake infrastructure changes to create appropriately private and therapeutic dedicated interview spaces for counselling services to be provided to prisoners at Albany Regional Prison. The spaces should be available at all times that the counselling service is operating.
Recommendation No. 2
I recommend that Treasury priorities funding the Department of Justice to create a permanent additional full-time PHS counsellor position at Albany Prison to ensure that a general counselling service is able to be consistently provided to prisoners seeking additional support, along with assessments for ‘at-risk’ prisoners on ARMS and vulnerable prisoners on SAMS.
Orders/Rules : N/A
Suppression Order : N/A
Summary : Owen Weasley (Owen) was an Aboriginal man who died by hanging while being held as a remand prisoner at Albany Regional Prison on 10 August 2023. An inquest into his death was mandatory.
An inquest hearing was held on 15 to 16 January 2025. The inquest heard evidence that Owen had a history of anxiety and depression leading back to trauma he experienced as a child, and he was known to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. He sometimes experienced suicidal ideation, both while in prison and when in the community. In the years prior to his death, he had been very distressed by a number of deaths in his family and the fact he could not travel interstate to attend family funerals due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. He was prescribed antidepressant medication but only took it intermittently.
Owen had returned to prison on 27 May 2023, shortly after his last release. He had relapsed into substance use while in the community and allegedly committed offences of violence towards his partner. His partner obtained a violence restraining order against him due to his threatening behaviour towards her, which meant once he was back in custody he was unable to contact her. She was a close support for him, so the inability to speak to his partner caused him additional distress, although he was able to remain in contact with his children.
On his readmission to prison, Owen was assessed at being at possible risk to himself, so he was placed on moderate ARMS and housed in the Multi-Purpose Unit in a fully ligature minimised cell until he could be properly assessed. He was seen by a Prison Health Service counsellor a couple of days after his readmission to prison and Owen told the counsellor he couldn’t guarantee his safety at that time. He therefore remained on moderate ARMS for a further period. He was then seen by another PHS counsellor who recommended Owen be continued on low ARMS. He had moved into a general population unit by this time, so it was also recommended he be housed with a supportive cell-mate.
Owen saw another PHS counsellor on 8 June 2023. This counsellor knew Owen as she had seem him for counselling sessions in the past. She recommended that he remain on low ARMS, in part because she was about to leave the prison and she knew the counselling services would be stretched, so it was unlikely Owen would be seen again by a counsellor if he came off ARMS. However, at the PRAG meeting, the other members supported a decision that Owen come off ARMS, and the PRAG Chair ultimately decided that Owen would be removed from ARMS. The counsellor still had some concerns about Owen’s mental state, so she made sure she saw him one more time on 14 June 2023 before she finished her employment. At that time, she thought Owen’s mental state seemed much improved. She confirmed Owen would remain on the general counselling list, but told him there was a chance he might have a long wait until he saw a counsellor, so she encouraged him to be pro-active and seek out support if he needed it.
From that time, there was only one PHS counsellor on site and he did not get a chance to see Owen again before Owen’s death. Other prisoners who were interacting with Owen regularly, including members of his family, thought Owen seemed a little upset about some issues with his legal representation and difficulties contacting family members, but none of them thought he might be experiencing suicidal ideation. Owen did see a doctor at the prison and mentioned having issues with insomnia, so he was started on an antidepressant to help with his sleep and mood.
On the day of his death, being 10 August 2023, some of the other prisoners thought Owen seemed a bit upset in the morning after a call with his lawyers and also the fact he was sad about the problems in his relationship with his partner, but he didn’t mention any thoughts of self-harm and he seemed to then recover and played ping pong with one his relatives before going to his cell for lunch. After lunch, he was left alone in his cell. Towards the end of the lunch break, one of Owen’s relatives went in to his cell to check on him, but the cell was dark and he couldn’t see Owen inside, so he left. At the end of the lunch lockdown, as the prison officers were getting the work party prisoners ready, another of Owen’s relative went in to his cell and found Owen hanging by a sheet from his wardrobe door. He called out for help and another prisoner came and helped him lower Owen to the floor before commencing CPR.
Other prisoners attracted the attention of prison officers, who came quickly and took over resuscitation efforts until medical/nursing staff arrived and assisted. An ambulance attended and Owen was taken to Albany Hospital for emergency medical treatment, but after a full assessment it was determined he had died. A police investigation found no evidence to indicate any other person was involved in the death, and all evidence pointed to the conclusion Owen took his own life.
Following Owen’s death, all wardrobe doors similar to the one utilised by Owen as a hanging point were removed from all cells. Albany Prison senior management and some other stakeholders undertook a Lessons Learned session on 15 May 2024, which identified some further issues with Owen’s prison management and first aid, all of which were then rectified.
The inquest heard evidence that Albany Prison has limited counselling staff and infrastructure for counselling sessions. The inquest also heard evidence that the Ligature Minimisation Program requires additional funds to roll out fully ligature minimisation across the prison estate, including Albany Prison. The Coroner made two recommendations in relation to funding for PHS counselling staff and infrastructure.
The Coroner found Mr Weazel died from ligature compression of the neck (hanging) and the manner of his death was by way of suicide.
Catch Words : Aboriginal Death in Custody : Hanging : Suicide : Albany Regional Prison : Ligature Points: Psychological Counselling
Last updated: 7 November 2025