Kangaroo Justice and the Death of Mike Hall: An Australian Miscarriage of Justice

On 31 March 2017, British ultra-endurance cyclist Mike Hall was struck and killed in Australia while riding his bicycle towards Canberra. At the inquest into his death, Mike was portrayed as not being conspicuous enough to motorists. Yet his reflective clothing was not retained by police, and other physical evidence was inexplicably sent back to the family. The driver was never charged even though he was speeding, with headlights that he stated could only project two meters and brakes that worked intermittently. Meanwhile the driver’s blood toxicology results were not presented to the Coroner until the eleventh hour, and have been kept from scrutiny – until now.

Kangaroo Justice and the Death of Mike Hall: An Australian Miscarriage of Justice recounts the avoidable death of Mike Hall in Australia, and the flawed investigation and coronial inquest that followed. It asks some difficult questions that deserve to be heard and answered.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Acknowledgements
Dedication
Preface

Part A - Hit From Behind
Section A.1: Mike Hall
Section A.2: The race
Section A.3: The media

Part B - The Players
Section B.1: Bernadette Boss, the coroner
Section B.2: Ken Archer, counsel assisting
Section B.3: The other parties
Section B.4: The AFP officers
Section B.5: The NSW police officers
Section B.6: The first witnesses at the scene
Section B.7: The witnesses who saw Mike

Part C - The Case
Section C.1: Self-government for the ACT
Section C.2: Referred to the Coroner
Section C.3: The decision
Section C.4: The Inquest Brief
Section C.5: Distraction
Section C.6: Steps taken
Section C.7: The Collision Analysis report
Section C.8: Mike Hall, the deceased
Section C.9: Shegu Bobb, the driver

Part D - The Australian Federal Police’s Evidence
Section D.1: The timeline
Section D.2: Fatigue wasn’t a factor
Section D.3: Distraction wasn’t a factor
Section D.4: The driver was speeding
Section D.5: The car wasn’t roadworthy
Section D.6: Mike was clearly visible

Part E - The Missing Evidence
Section E.1: The destruction of evidence
Section E.2: The handwritten diary notes
Section E.3: The two Mujic conversations
Section E.4: The three Bobb interviews
Section E.5: The car in front
Section E.6: Missing witness #9
Section E.7: The missing expert witness
Section E.8: The missing endurance cyclist
Section E.9: The just-in-time blood results

Part F - The Truth
Section F.1: Six twenty am
Section F.2: Incompetence
Section F.3: Questions for Shegu Bobb

Part G - The Miscarriage of Justice
Section G.1: The eyes of the world are watching now
Section G.2: The flaws
Section G.3: Why
Section G.4: A road safety royal commission

Part H - ‘Cueca Solo’ or the Dance Alone
Section H.1: FOI requests
Section H.2: We dance alone

Index

Heath Ryan is a publisher and writer. Born in Toronto, Canada, Heath now lives in Australia. In addition to being a father, Heath is an ultra-endurance cyclist. Riding as ‘The Dark Knight’, he was in twentieth position in the 2017 Indian Pacific Wheel Race from Fremantle to Sydney on the day Mike Hall was killed.