There are lots of stories around about children who got sent to Don Dale being treated badly there. Don Dale is a Youth Detention centre in Darwin, run by the Northern Territory Government. Eventually, lawyers who heard these stories went to court and argued to judges that the Northern Territory Government was breaking the law because of how badly they treated children at Don Dale. The same thing was happening in Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre too. The Northern Territory Government heard the lawyers’ stories about people at Don Dale being treated badly and agreed to pay those people money and to say sorry.
This happened a long time ago now – between the years of 2006 and 2017. But now, lawyers are now trying to find all the people who were in Don Dale because the Northern Territory Government has to pay compensation money. Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are looking for everyone who was at Don Dale between August 2006 and November 2017 so that everyone can get a fair share of the compensation money. This includes Don Dale in both Darwin and Alice Springs.
Here at Meigim Kriol Strongbala, we learned about this when we were asked to help translate the lawyer’s letter into Kriol and make a recording of it for people who don’t read Kriol really well. We think it’s important that this message gets out to all Kriol speakers. If you have family who got sent to Don Dale anytime from 2006 to 2017, please tell Maurice Blackburn Lawyers – call them on 1800 226 211. You can also go their website, register there and get more info: https://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/class-actions/current-class-actions/nt-youth-justice-class-action/ . You need to contact the lawyers before November 16, 2021.
For more information, you can listen to the recording here:
Here is the Kriol letter we translated for Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.
Dijan leda im burru Maurice Blackburn Lawyer mob. That Federal Court ob Australia bin dalim dat Maurice Blackburn Lawyer mob bla sherim dijan stori gada yu. Dijan stori im bla ola yang pipul weya alabat bin guwin langa Don Deil la Darwin o det najawan Don Deil la Alice Springs.
That Maurice Blackburn Lawyer mob, alabat wekwek gada Munanga lo. Alabat bin nyal bla tubala blakbala la wanbala kot keis. That kot keis im agens NT Gabmen. Langa dijan kot keis, tubala blakbala, Dylan Jenkings en Aaron Hyde, dubala bin tok that NT Gabmen bin breigi lo en NT Gabmen bin ardim yang pipul wen dei bin jidan la Don Deil. Bat dat NT Gabmen reken dei nomo bin breigi dat lo.
That Aaren en Dylan dubala bin aski NT Gabman bla peiyim compensation mani la ola yang pipul weya thei bin jidan la Don Deil. So, det NT Gabmen bin tok yuwai bla gibit compensation mani la yu. NT Gabman reken yu na bin guwin la Don Deil.
If yu wandi gaji that compensation mani brom gabmen, yu garra gibit yu neim la detmob loiya. Wen yu gibit yu neim, munanga gulum ‘register’. Wen yu ‘register’ im min yu dalimbat that loiya mob yu wandi that compensation mani. Bla register en gibit yu neim, yu gin kol la that loiya mob. O yu gin gu la that loiya mob websait en burrum bla yu diteil ja. Dijan na that websait: https://classaction.mauriceblackburn.com.au/NTYouthJustice/registration
Dijan na that namba bla kol that loiya mob: 1800 226 211. Im fri kol dijan.
Meiksho yu gibit yu neim bifo 16 November 2021. If yu nomo gibit yu neim la that loiya mob, yu gaan gaji eni compensation mani.
Bla faindat mo bla dijan stori, yu gin kol la that loiya mob en tok garra alabat. That loiya mob gin gaji inteprita wen alabat toktok gada yu. If yu wandi irrim dijan stori, yu gin irri rikoding garra Kriol en najamob langgus langa alabat websait. Iya na that loiya mob websait: mauriceblackburn.com.au/ntyouthjustice .
Yu luk that najamob peipa garra dijan leda. Thatlot peipa garrim mo bla dijan stori.
Dismob loiya nomo dalimbat laiya. Yu gin luk la Federal Court websait ya: https://www.comcourts.gov.au/file/Federal/P/NTD64/2016/actions en luk dijan stori im trubalawan.
You can also read news stories about this here: Former Don Dale youth inmates to share $35m settlement for mistreatment while in prison (The Guardian, July 28, 2021): https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/28/former-don-dale-youth-inmates-to-share-35m-settlement-for-mistreatment-while-in-prison
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