Furious residents of the aboriginal crime-ravaged small town of Moree in northern New South Wales are set to take to the streets after an innocent motorcyclist was allegedly struck and killed by three teenage males in a stolen ute.
Daniel McNamara, 52, from Narrabri, was killed on Tuesday when his motorcycle was allegedly hit by the three youths from Moree while pulling out of a service station in Gunnedah. They allegedly kept driving before crashing in the nearby town of Carroll where they were tracked down and arrested.
The alleged driver had a 38-page criminal record including 90 bail breaches, one passenger had been recently released after allegedly breaking into a home and stealing a car, and the other passenger had four bail breaches in one day, a court heard in Wednesday, Nine News reported. They cannot be identified due to their age.
The first passenger had been refused police bail, and refused bail in the local court, only for Supreme Court Justice Dina Yehia, a left-wing Egyptian immigrant and outspoken advocate for indigenous people and diversity, to let him out of custody with strict conditions, 2GB reported.
According to radio host Ben Fordham, Justice Yehia used the teenager’s bail hearing to critique the NSW government’s new youth bail laws.
Mr McNamara’s death has caused an outpouring of fury and grief in the region, and residents of Moree are now considering taking to the streets to demand action. Moree has a population of just 7,845, 60.2% of whom are non-indigenous, and one of the highest crime rates in the state.
On Thursday the administrators of a local Facebook group, where residents report crimes multiple times a day, said: “We have been bombarded with requests for a protest march down the main street to the police station. We are seeking your input such as what day and time and who would like to be involved?”
The post attracted hundreds of comments, with many saying the march should be to the courthouse instead.
“Should be to the courthouse not the police station, magistrates are the ones that keep letting scum back on the streets, police have had enough too constantly arresting them only for them to walk the streets causing chaos & danger to the public again!” said one local.
“Frustration within the town has peaked. Enough is enough. The community at large want something done. Police have their hands tied by bureaucratic red tape. It’s time the powers at be start listening to the people, the same people that elect them in,” said another.
“Yes a protest march is needed, yes it needs to be on a court day and to the local member’s office, and yes it needs to be on a work day.
“Moree, take a half day off, fight for your community, shut the town down, we all need to come together to make a stand. We need to take our town back for the safety of its community. Our town our community need to push back, how many more innocent people need to be harmed. Enough is enough, take the town back!”
A letter from a local police officer was also posted on the page, giving his perspective on the issue and asking locals not to take their anger out on the police or the defence lawyers.
“These 14-year-olds aren’t the typical 14-year-old some of us have or have had over time. These kids are born and raised in an area with a unique socioeconomic background,” he wrote.
“Moree, like many other western towns is rife with drug and child abuse. These kids are taught from a very young age the way of the streets. For them it’s all they know and all they have.”
All comments on the post have since been deleted due to references to aboriginal crime.
According to the most recent NSW crime statistics, the Moree Plains local government area is the worst in the state for robbery, theft and disorderly conduct, the second worst for assault, drug offences and malicious damage, and the fourth worst for sex offences.
The Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research does not break down offences by aboriginality, but it does provide that information as part of its statistics on people in custody.
As of September 2024, 59.8% of youths in custody in NSW were aboriginal despite being just 6.2% of the population.
Aboriginals made up 31.8% of adult prisoners – the highest proportion on record – although they are only 3.4% of the population, meaning 1 in 27 aboriginal men and 1 in 280 aboriginal women in NSW are currently incarcerated.
Header image: Left, the scene of the crash (Nine News). Right, Daniel McNamara (Facebook).
