An Indigenous inmate "screeched for mercy" when correctional officers allegedly used a knife in an attempt to forcibly strip search her, a civil court has heard.
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Julianne Francis Williams, 39, has launched court action against the ACT government, accusing it of torturous, cruel and degrading treatment while she was locked up in the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
The civil hearing in the ACT Supreme Court started on Monday.
Barrister Mark Dennis SC, who represented Ms Williams, started his opening address with the words: "I can't breathe."
He said they had been spoken by Ms Williams in January 2021, after she refused to consent to a strip search while detained in jail.
Mr Dennis argued his client had "begged for mercy" when officers entered her cell and forcibly tried to strip search her with an unlawful use of force.
He told the court that officers had a Hoffman knife on them at the time of the incident. Mr Dennis also claimed two male officers had been present and it was close to cells containing male prisoners.
Ms Williams, who had a pacemaker, found it hard to breathe and yelled "I've got f---ing pains in my chest", the barrister told the court.
Footage of the incident was played to the court. It showed officers entering the cell and struggling with Ms Williams while she cries out "just let me go".
Eventually, Ms Williams consents to the search and is taken to a bathroom with two female officers.
Mr Dennis said video footage of the incident, which cannot be published until after the hearing, was "utterly chilling".
"The plaintiff reached a point where she was clearly filled with the utmost fear and the utmost terror," he said.
"The fear, panic, the terror in her voice as she screamed, yelled and screeched for mercy at the top of her voice."
Mr Dennis argued the woman's human rights were breached by "cruel, degrading conduct" and she was "not treated with humanity and dignity".
The court heard that before the strip search, a leave request by Ms Williams to attend her grandmother's funeral bad been denied.
She was then transferred to the crisis support unit after threatening self-harm.
Mr Dennis argued the denial of the request was also an alleged breach of human rights, with it being "a matter of particular cultural significance" for the indigenous woman.
The barrister told the court that before the attempted strip search, a correctional officer had seen Ms Williams putting toilet paper down the front of her pants and became concerned she might have a razor concealed.
He argued the woman was menstruating at the time, didn't have sanitary items and was using toilet paper.
The barrister said the strip search was in fact a body search and it was unlawful.
Counsel for the ACT government, Houda Younan SC, told the court some claims the woman's human rights had been violated were "a heady cocktail of assumption and speculation".
She argued the strip search was lawful and conducted with the suspicion Ms Williams had hidden an item which could be used for self-harm.
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Ms Younan said Ms Williams had made several specific threats to harm herself in the lead-up to the incident.
She said the footage played to the court was "misleading" without context and the knife was not used at all, "let alone used as a weapon".
While on the stand, Ms Williams became distraught and was excused early with her evidence set to continue on Tuesday.
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