The Day We'd Dreamed Of

for just fourteen days and claiming its like prison conditions. Well, Kevin Henry has spent ten thousand, three hundred and sixty five days in prison. But this year, on January twenty, why the rest of Australia was battling the bushfires and before the coronavirus had hit, something very special happened. Amy, can you tell the listeners what happened on January twenty this year?

It was actually just a call because Kevin Henry had just been released and he was a freeman. I'll buy it on parole conditions. So Kevin Henry, for the first time in nearly three decades, was actually leaving the confines of prison without handcuffs, and I remember just thinking, Wow, that's amazing because he actually made that point that you know, this is the first time he'd been outside without handcuff for nearly twenty eight twenty nine years. I remember just thinking, Oh, God,

imagine how that feels. And he was talking about how it was so amazing to see the mountain and so, yeah, it was sort of it was such a special day for myself, for you and o Martin, for everyone who's helping Kevin's fight, everyone who's known his story around rock Hamton, all of his family, but most importantly for Kevin himself. And that's something that we haven't been able to tell our listeners for a whole host of reasons, which we

may be able to discuss today. But as of now, Kevin Henry has been a free man for the past four months, but still obviously under parole conditions. So Martin, can I ask you a little bit about that day January twenty How did it feel like, you know, for the past three years working on Kevin's case, trying to get him out because we know he's an innocent man. From your perspective, what were your feelings on this day?

up and everything that we all take for granted. And perhaps people because of the coronavirus have a little bit more insight, only a tiny bit into what it's like to miss the things we normally do day to day, and you have to remember that for the best part of thirty years, Kevin has been robbed full of that.

So for me, very emotional day, just so happy for Kevin and his family and that vindication for Kevin to have stayed so strong for so long and to find we walk out of there from out behind the bars is just an incredible thing. So, and you know, to, like you say, to speak to him under just completely

different conditions. We're so used to being listened to whenever we speak to Kevin, having those conversations recorded, only being able to speak to him for sort of six or seven minutes at a time, and often being cut off or trying to ring back. And yeah, it's just this new beginning after a very long fight. And obviously we knew that day was coming, and as we will explain a little bit, we had to keep that secret and we've still kept a lot to ourselves and we won't

reveal everything today. But even knowing it was coming, you're just still waiting for that moment to happen. So I definitely didn't sleep well for a few days leading up, but Eavan slept like a baby and has just been doing incredibly well. And I guess, Amy, you've spent time with Kevin since he's been out. How has that been and how's he doing? Yeah?

a friendly setting over a couple of copy. The thing I think is most amazing is just how he has been so quickly able to reconnect with his community, his family and a Wrribinda, but all of the mob he grew up with, and he's come out, and there's been the recognition immediately since he's come out that he's innocent,

that he was done wrong. For so many years, there's not been one person his approach, you're a criminal, not But I think that's been the really amazing thing for Kevin to know he's come out with the knowledge that, you know, the majority of people who know about the case, no, he's innocent. And I think that's been being very special. It's very different, even though he hasn't been exonerated yet

and obviously that's the flight we're going to continue. We know he's an innocent man, and that's something that's been stressed by a lot of the mobs he's seen just around the shops, you know, in Rocky and I think that's been really hardening for him. And has helped in the healing process. I can tell you that Kevin Henry is very strong persons, a very strong man, and yeah,

he's definitely going to get through this. So the past few months, you know, there's always going to be struggled, as anyone who has been through such an adult a deal will have. But he's really taking it really well. And the first time I threw him, he had his parameter, Eels Jersey on straight away, so he's really doing well to just continue his life. So yeah, I think that's what's been the really great match support. And I'll just

give one example. I was in the local shopping center with Kevin and I saw a local Aboriginal man who I knew had been listening to the podcast and I

hadn't met Kevin before. He come out straight away and said a load to me and immediately started talking about the podcast and how, you know, how disgusting it was, what's happened to Kevin, and how he was I think thirty or forty episodes in and then I said, oh, oh, this is Kevin here, and the look on his face and it was just amazing and what he said to Kevin then and hopefully kind of been near future, you will be able to hear Kevin's own story from his

own voice, and that's where it's incredibly powerful. But for now, he's doing really well, better than I think anyone else given the circumstances, because you maybe just informal listeners about why it was important for Kevin to get out in for all first before exonerating, because I think in other cases, obviously people have been cleared and been completely exonerated when they've walked free. Why was it important for us to go down that pole route?

one day you just walk out. So the exoneration process is a very lengthy one and it's an unusual one in Australia, unlike in the United States, for example, where someone for example, sentenced to death will be able to appeal all the way up until literally the last minute, and you have appeals to appellate courts, Circuit courts, the Supreme Court of the United States, you petition the governor right up to the last moment, either for clemency or

for a stay in Australia. That's just not how it works. And so what we've been in the process of doing, and we're preparing a second round of material, is to present that material to the Governor of Queensland for an official pardon for Kevin. But in the meantime, while all that goes along, Kevin's been sitting in prison. So what we began to do quite a long time ago, a number of years ago, was enter into negotiations for parole for Kevin. And clearly that there's two options you can take.

You can stay in prison and never know how long it might take and whether you will be granted a pardon. And I should state that not a single living Aboriginal persons Land serving a life sentence has ever been granted a pardon. So when you're trying to make history, you can't play with someone's life. So the very important thing to us was that we got Kevin out of prison, and for that I think we need to understand that

that means that Kevin is still under parole conditions. Which he absolutely accepts and he's doing really well with that. There's a lot of details we won't go into because they're just not necessary on any of that, but the idea was really that to allow Kevin to be out on the outside and begin to enjoy his life and reclaim his freedom while we continue to fight for his full exoneration and a complete pardon. So that's also part

of the reason you won't hear Kevin's voice today. Part of parole conditions in Queensland is that a person doesn't speak to the media, and for now, obviously Kevin isn't doing that, and I will state that we won't tolerate media approaching Kevin. Any media questions can come to me. It's very obvious to contact through Curtin the podcast website,

which is freely available on Google. There's our Twitter page, our Facebook page, which are all very well known, so any media thinking of making contact can just forget about that. But the main thing was to ensure that more days weren't lost for Kevin and for his family. Kevin's been in prison for the best part of thirty years. His

father has passed away in that time. Many of his friends and family have passed away in that time and it just wasn't fair or right for him to spend any longer in prison than he needed to, so we had to make a strategic decision. And getting parole wasn't easy either, and that was a long drawn out process that we put thousands of hours of work into with Helen Blabber, who we need to think a lot from Prisoner's Legal Service, and I would encourage people to support

the work they do. So really where we sit now is Kevin is out and on parole, and we are continuing to push and do all the work we need to do to have his name cleared once and for all. But as I say, given that no Aboriginal person has ever been pardoned while they've been alive in Queensland, we are trying to make history here and that's not going to happen overnight.

I just really want to thank Hellen and the Prisoner's Legal Service and the people who do it without any recognition and also without the majority of its compensations. Unders do it because they know that this is the right thing to do. And I think that's shown what I've seen in helping Kevin and campaigning for Kevin is that we don't have a lot of those people in Queensland

or nationally. I just really want to stress how important and vital the work of Palen Blabber is in the prison of Legal Service and how it should be supported mad And I guess some of our listeners maybe thinking, you know, like Kevin is under prole conditions in which he can't speak to media, why are we actually why are we actually informing our listeners of this now currently?

Everybody that's listened to this podcast has helped play a role in getting to the point that you know, as we speak, Kevin is sitting in his living room and

not in a prison cell. But it was important to us and I think it's important for Kevin that there's no misinformation out in the public domain, that also people have followed this case very closely, and that people be informed of what's been happening, because I think it's important that we understand that there's many, many other Aboriginal people

like Kevin Henry in prison. Derek Bromley is obviously someone we've spoken about a lot who is approaching nearly forty years in prison for a crime he clearly did not commit, as you've heard on an earlier episode of Curtin. And so we also want people to understand the process that these are very drawn out procedures. This is not something that happens overnight. So it's as much about keeping people informed about the way things work as it is about

avoiding misinformation. As we've stated, Kevin's not going to give any public comment until he's cleared and allowed to do so. But I also should add too that the people that have known and supported Kevin, known been out and supported Kevin, have been wonderful not only in their love and support for Kevin, but in making sure that Kevin wasn't harassed by the media and that his transition after all this time into regular life has been made as easy as possible.

And for that, I really want to acknowledge the strength of the war Abinda community and thank the elders and all the people in Worabinda for their support for Kevin and what they've done to help us get to this day. You know, it's more than just us, and also the Aboriginal community of Rockhampton. There's just been this tremendous amount

of support. And one thing that's really telling for me is that what people really need to understand is Kevin has served more time than almost any other prisoner in this circumstance in Australian history. And yet you're not going to hear of any QC or any amous lawyer, or anyone who has got to this point to get Kevin out breathing the fresh air on the outside. That has simply not happened. There's been no large amounts of money

to do this. This has all been thousands of hours of volunteer work of people, whether it's Amy and myself, whether it's Helen who you've heard about, and whether it's the members of the community in Warabinda and people in Rockhampton who have done incredible things to do what they can to support Kevin. And most importantly, we often hear

that lawyers and well known people are centered in these fights. Well, there's really only one person that has led this from start to finish, who was wronged more than anyone will ever understand, and who has maintained strength for the best part of thirty years, and that's Kevin Henry. And Kevin Henry never quit on Kevin Henry, and without him we could never have got to this point. We've always been

working for Kevin. Helen's been working for Kevin, I have Amy, has the whole community who have supported him without money,

without the usual things that any other case gets. Kevin's strength is what has kept us all going when we've thought we were doing it tough in trying to overcome this huge hurdle of seeking Kevin's freedom and most of all, it's Kevin who I want to pay the greatest tribute to for his incredible strength to overcome something none of us will ever understand and ever be able to comprehend. And I think people really need to think about that

long and hard. When you hear of not only Kevin's case, but all of the other Aboriginal people you've heard about who are wrongly in prisoned around Australia. The enormous strength and dignity that they show behind bars every day to fight for their own freedom, years and years and years, not locked in bloody five star hotels for two weeks knowing they're going to get out, and with all the

luxury and support, but tens of thousands of days. And I think people should just sit on that for a moment and think about the strength and residience of Kevin, of his family and his community, and of Aboriginal people more broadly. Forget about the QCs. They don't win these cases and they haven't contributed a single thing here. This is about the strength of one man and the culture he comes from.

So not only are we having to collate witness statements and present everything in what is a huge document, It's the size of a textbook to be put together on this case. To present all the evidence, it's really important that no stone is left unturned, and so we're really going through the process of drafting all of that up in a legal framework and putting all the evidence together that not only shows Kevin's innocence, but shows what really happened and in that period in nineteen ninety one that

tragically took the life of Linda. And what's really important to us is that the truth is ultimately known and comes out. So that process is where we put all collate all this information, as I say, into a huge document and I have some assistance with doing that, and then it is presented to the Governor of Queensland for their consideration and they hold the sole power to grant

an official pardon. But now that we've made this information available today that we have will update our listeners and also we could share some more information through our Facebook page and on Twitter as we go so people are aware of what's going on, because this is going to be a process that many other Aboriginal prisoners are going

to need to go down. Derek Bromley, as I mentioned, is in South Australia, and there are hundreds of others who faced this similar situation where appeals processes ran out and were wasted years ago through no fault of the

prisoner themselves. And this is the only process available to us in Australia is to appeal to the Governor, and it's an exhaustive and long process, but we are absolutely committed and will not stop until the records are amended and Kevin Henry is marked a free and innocent man.

also local supporter really helped. And then it's the man who's been wrongly convicted for the past twenty I mean getting up to thirty years now. So I just want to thank for our listeners as well, all across the world and all across Australia physically in rock Camden, because there have been a lot of supporters at a local level and very important sorry I won't say that, and very important supporters as well. So I want to thank

our listeners. And I also want to echo the sentiment of Marden in which he you know, talked about the most important person in this who's never given up the fight, and that's Kevin himself. And I can tell our listeners that he is not going to quit any time soon, that this fight will be continuing, not only until this injustice is reversed and you know, his colleagues, but also for other Aboriginal prisoners and for other young Murray kids growing up today who are going through the same things

that Kevin went through it when he was young. So I want to thank not only our listeners, but Kevin himself for being an inspiration as we continue to work with his case.

inside his own home for the first time in three decades and helps us work to clear his own name. I want to pay particular thanks to those who have supported us on Patreon, and if you'd like to do that as well, the link is on our website, and that small amount of money that through makes a huge difference, because this is a very expensive process. As I say, will be revealing a lot more of what has happened

in the last six months to a year's stuff. We haven't been able to talk about the exciting twists and turns, the highs and lows that we've ridden just to get to this particular moment. As you'll hear, some of it really is like it's straight out of a movie. And we will continue to work. This is more than just a podcast about one human being. This is about an

entire system that we all know is broken. Everyone who's listened and contributed on our Facebook page with their own stories of family members beaten in prison, wrongly convicted, beaten by police, deaths in custody, these are the things that we have to change. And we always said when we started this podcast. First we have to get one right, Kevin Henry has to walk out and breathe fresh air

for the first time in decades. We've reached that moment, and from here we want to build a platform where, with your help, we change this whole system that caused these disgusting and despicable suffering for so many and has done for so long. So we hope you'll join us on the ride. Like I say, there's more to come. There are a lot more cases we're going to be talking about. There are a lot more issues we need to expose and we need to talk about and we

need to bring change. But we've really shown as a podcast, with the strength of Kevin, his family, the people of Wuabinda and Rockhampton, and with all of you our listeners right around the world from over one hundred countries, that just this small little team that we've put together, that we can make a huge difference and do things that haven't been done before. So I hope you'll support us and stay with us. Chat to us on Twitter at Curtin the Podcast, the same on Facebook at our website

curtinthepodcast dot com, and be part of this process. There's no point simply looking at what's going on and not doing something about it. Lives can be changed, but it is up to you to listen, to share this information, to support us if you can, and to support all those people right around this country who are in prison and their families who are all doing it incredibly tough and have done for decades and decades. That was episode sixty seven of Curtain the Podcast.