The brother of a prison inmate who shot himself dead while on medical transfer in the Wollongong CBD says he blames Corrective Services for the tragedy.
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Ten days after he died, 37-year-old Mathew Lothian Tyerman was farewelled at a funeral service in south-west Sydney on January 16.
During the service his younger brother Rhys Tyerman told mourners Mathew was like a watermelon - "hard on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside" - and said the days since January 6 had been the hardest of his life.
"Losing my brother in such a horrific act is something you can't comprehend, let alone accept, especially when it's all over the news, in the papers, not to mention the fault - I believe - of the correctional services system," he said.
"The whole system failed Matty and that's the reason why we're here today.
"Yes, it was his decision at the end of the day, but he shouldn't have been given the opportunity to do what he did in the first place."
Mathew was being held in South Coast Correctional Centre over serious domestic violence charges, including an allegation of choking a woman.
He denied those allegations and was due to defend himself at a hearing this month.
On January 6 he left prison to receive medical care at rooms inside Wollongong's Piccadilly Centre.
Wearing prison greens, he allegedly pushed passed a male and female corrective services officer before taking the woman's gun, firing at a passing police car and a truck then turning the weapon on himself.
Rhys said his brother had a big physique and "looked quite intimidating" from afar.
"But when you got up close with him and got the chance to know him, you'll realise that he was just a big teddy bear with a huge heart, a few tattoos and Nike TN shoes," he said at the service, which went ahead with numbers capped by COVID restrictions, with a live feed streamed online.
In a written address, Mathew's mother Deborah eulogised him as a "beautiful soul" who "put the 'l' in 'larrikin'".
On Tuesday Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman declined to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding Mathew's medical transfer.
"The incident is still under investigation by the NSW Police Force and Corrective Services," she said.
"All deaths in custody are subject to a coronial inquest and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further."
The incident shut down part of Wollongong's CBD for most of the day as police swarmed the area.
A witness to the shooting's aftermath, Donna Leffley, told the Mercury she felt sympathy for both the prison officer involved and the dead inmate.
Ms Leffley described the male correctives officer as tall with a medium build, while the female guard was "quite young and very small build".
"She sat against the wall ... just down from the male who was still laying there," she said.
"The ambulance turned up ... to perform CPR on him. There was a lot of police and ambulance around him. I kept looking at the female guard who was very distraught. She was taken away in an ambulance.
"I could see her keep holding her left forearm - I couldn't see any visible injury. You could just see in her face she was very upset and being consoled by some police."
Angela Thompson
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Proudly Illawarra Mercury since 2008; these days covering crime and justice issues. UOW alum. Thrilled by the chase and sobered by some of the things I see and hear when I stand still - sometimes in the same day. ang.thompson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
