![]() ![]() The exact punishment to be imposed was not mentioned. This would involve taking him to sacred areas beyond the Musgrave Ranges for about a year where he would be instructed by the elders in tribal history. He added that tribal elders had taken up the matter and that Williams was due to be punished according to tribal law. In his Submission on sentence counsel for Williams emphasised the extreme nature of the provocation in mentioning tribal secrets. Justice Wells, with the Crown’s consent, then accepted a plea of guilty to manslaughter, taking the view that there was sufficient evidence of provocation to justify reducing the charge of murder to manslaughter. He made certain confessions which were challenged on various grounds at his trial for murder, but which, after a hearing on the voir dire, were admitted. Williams told her to keep quiet but she continued to taunt him until, losing his self control, he hit her violently with a stick and a bottle and killed her. The victim was very drunk and had insulted Williams, mentioning what defence counsel claimed were tribal religious secrets which women are not supposed to know, let alone speak of. He was charged with murder and brought to Adelaide for trial. Williams, an initiated Pitjantjatjara man, had killed a woman with whom he had been drinking, at Nundroo near Yalata in the far west of South Australia. In order to give a clearer idea of the nature of the problem, and of how the courts are dealing with it in cases involving Aboriginal customary laws, some of the more important cases in the last decade are set out here in some detail. But that is only one case - and by no means a typical one - among many. A few such cases have become well-known, notably the decision of Justice Wells in the Sydney Williams case. In discussing the relevance of Aboriginal customary laws in sentencing, an essential first step is to assess how judges actually deal with it in particular cases under the present law. Aboriginal Customary Laws and Sentencing: Existing Law and PracticeĤ91. ![]()
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