The Tomkins incident on 30 November 2004 was an attack by two white farmers on two Aboriginal boys found trespassing on their property near Goondiwindi, a town on the border of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia.
David and Clint Tomkins, a father and son managing the farm, allegedly beat Alan Boland and Bevan Bartman and dragged Boland around the property with a noose around his neck. The incident occurred just four days after the suspicious death in police custody of an Aboriginal man in the community of Palm Island that saw the island community riot.
The local Aboriginal community was outraged when the Tomkins were handed down a A$500 fine each for their treatment of the four boys, who themselves were charged with breaking, entering and theft. The event made headlines in countries around the world, including the UK.
The assault
On November 2004, four Indigenous boys from the Toomelah Aboriginal Mission swam across the Macintyre River to a nearby Queensland property managed by David Hilary Tomkins (then 44 years old) and his son Clint Williams Tomkins (then 23 years old). The four boys, Alan Boland (16), Bevan "BJ" Bartman (19), Reg McGrady (23) and Jade, had said that they had previously bought marijuana from the Tomkins but had recently begun stealing it from the property instead.
The four boys broke into a building with the intention of stealing from a hydroponic crop inside, but were discovered by the Tomkins. McGrady and Jade escaped to the other side of the river, but the other two, Bartman and Boland, were caught by the Tomkins.
Bartman and Boland allege that the Tomkins pulled Boland back through the river, stripped him naked, bound his wrists and then dragged him up an embankment by a rope tied around his neck. They also allege the Tomkins tied Bartman to a tree and forced him to watch as they threatened to cut off Boland's toes with a pair of pliers and beat them both with sticks.
Bartman has said he managed to escape after he faked an asthma attack while he was being untied from the tree. He then ran back through the bush and swam across the river. Boland said the two Tomkins then walked into the farmhouse and returned with a double-barrelled shotgun and 0.22-calibre rifle, loaded both in front of Boland and pressed the guns to either side of his temples, yelled racist taunts and hammered the boy's face with their gun butts. The Tomkins called the police and allegedly removed the noose from Boland's neck before they arrived. The police took Boland to Goondiwindi police station and charged him with break and enter.
Police behaviour
Boland's family have said the police questioned Boland for three hours until legal representation from Legal Aid arrived. The representative allegedly said that Boland was in no condition to give a statement, and ordered the boy be taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries, which he considered were extremely severe.
Boland's family have said Boland's face was bruised and swollen, he had suffered several cuts on his body from being dragged around and had rope burns around his neck. Boland's family have said Boland was still in shock and vomited repeatedly on the way to the hospital.
At the local Goondiwindi hospital a nurse attended Boland, but the doctor on duty refused to see him, despite the gravity of his injuries, according to Boland's family. At one stage Boland and one of the Tomkins, who had broken his arm in the fracas, were sitting together in the same treatment room. Boland was then taken by the police to a holding cell in Tenterfield.
The prosecution
The court case was held on 18 May 2005. At 9.30 am, two hours before the case, the police prosecutor told Boland's mother Rosalyn, Toomelah elder Ada Jarrett and a Toowoomba Legal Aid representative that the Tomkins would only get a fine or a good behaviour bond, according to Mrs Boland and Jarrett.
According to Jarrett and Mrs Boland, a police sergeant and the prosecutor then repeatedly pressured them for another two hours to sign statements dropping the more serious charge of assault occasioning bodily harm in company, for which there is a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail. The sergeant and prosecutor claimed the Tomkins would walk free if Boland didn't arrive at the courthouse on time, said Jarrett and Mrs Boland.