Tragic Tale of Two Aboriginal Brothers: Spit Hoods, Homelessness, and Systemic Failure Claim Two Lives
- Two disabled Aboriginal brothers, known as Big Brother and Little Brother, died just two months apart in 2023 after years of homelessness and neglect in Alice Springs.
- One of the brothers was restrained with a spit hood TWICE while lying dying in hospital, sparking calls for a ban on the controversial practice.
- A coroner’s investigation has exposed a litany of missed opportunities and systemic failures that contributed to the tragic deaths of the two men, who were proud Arrernte and Alyawarr speakers and cultural role models.
In a devastating indictment of the Northern Territory’s social services, a coroner has revealed the shocking circumstances surrounding the deaths of two Aboriginal brothers, who died needlessly after years of neglect and homelessness.
Big Brother and Little Brother, as they are now known, were the sons of a stockman and born in the 1950s. They were proud Arrernte and Alyawarr speakers, known for their hard work and cultural leadership in their large extended family.
Despite being assessed for significant cognitive impairments and placed under the care of the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), the brothers spent years homeless in Alice Springs, with their health deteriorating as a result.
In a heartbreaking development, Big Brother was twice restrained with a spit hood while lying dying in hospital, sparking calls for a ban on the controversial practice. Although the coroner found the spit hood did not contribute to his death, she recommended NT Corrections ban their use.
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage’s investigation into the deaths of the two brothers has exposed a litany of missed opportunities and systemic failures that contributed to their tragic demise.
The coroner found that the brothers’ homelessness and related food insecurity likely contributed to Big Brother being diagnosed with a brain injury known as Wernicke encephalopathy in 2021, also associated with high alcohol consumption.
Despite having NDIS packages and aged care assessments, the brothers remained homeless, with the coroner noting that the agencies had “very limited capacity to communicate” with them without the use of Arrernte and Alyawarr interpreters.
In a stark warning, the coroner said that the lack of proper care and support for the brothers was a recipe for disaster, with the NT’s homelessness figures 12 times the national rate, and 87 per cent of those homeless in the territory being Indigenous.
The coroner’s nine recommendations include banning the use of spit hoods, improving the OPG’s systems to identify when people are homeless for extended periods of time while in their care, and developing a strategy to improve how they engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
In a scathing critique of the system, the coroner said that the failure to provide proper care and support for the brothers was a result of a “perfect storm” of systemic failures, including the lack of medium to long-term residential facilities for people with high-level cognitive impairment in Alice Springs, and the absence of services accessible to non-English speakers.
The coroner’s findings are a damning indictment of the Northern Territory’s social services and a call to action to address the systemic failures that contributed to the tragic deaths of Big Brother and Little Brother.