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A coroner’s inquest has begun into the circumstances surrounding the death of a man living with disability during his arrest at Perth Underground train station in 2023.
Josh Van Malssen was 24 years old when he died of a heart attack while being restrained by Public Transport Authority officers.
Josh, 24, died after being arrested by transit guards at Perth Underground Station on June 16, 2023.
Described by his family as “cheerful and happy”, Van Malssen was born with several health and mental health conditions, including Sotos syndrome, which is characterised by excessive growth in early childhood, distinctive facial features, learning disabilities and developmental delays.
He also had intellectual impairment, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety and depression, sleep apnoea, asthma and dilated cardiomyopathy.
During the inquest’s opening address on Wednesday, the court was told Van Malssen lived in assisted accommodation, but despite receiving almost $150,000 in NDIS funding, he did not have full-time, in-home support.
Free to come and go when he wanted, Van Malssen left home on the evening of June 16, 2023 and was seen on CCTV at Perth Train Station at 8pm that night. He had been drinking.
For five minutes at 8pm, Van Malssen was seen “laughing and joking” with officers before walking towards the Perth Underground station.
The court was told he then exited through the ticket gates and, as he did, began shouting and swearing at staff.
He was told to watch his language, but continued shouting threats and abuse.
CCTV footage then showed four transit officers approach Van Malssen, one of whom knew him, and tell him he could not travel on the trains because of his behaviour, but he continued to abuse the guards.
Josh Van Malssen as a young boy.
He was then told to leave the station and come back later, or he would be arrested, but refused and tried to push past the officers.
Two officers took hold of Van Malssen’s arms and tried to walk him to the lift to escort him out of the station, but he started thrashing his arms and dropping his weight.
He was 207 centimetres tall and weighed 174 kilograms.
The court was told Van Malssen was placed into a harness hold and then a “harness take down” to lower him into a seated position, before he was rolled into a “prone” position on his stomach.
His legs were secured but, with one officer watching on, three others struggled to secure him in handcuffs.
The court was told on Wednesday that there was “some delay” while one officer tried to locate larger handcuffs to fit Van Malssen’s wrists, but when none could be located he used his own, but noticed they didn’t appear to secure correctly.
Meanwhile, Van Malssen had stopped moving.
“Footage shows he then took a series of deep breaths before appearing to fall unconscious,” the inquest was told, which seemed to “go unnoticed” by the officers, until they realised his face had changed colour.
An officer immediately began releasing the handcuffs and called a “code 11” medical emergency over the radio, the inquest was told, but there “appeared to be some delay in the handcuffs being successfully removed”.
The call for the ambulance was received at 8.20pm. The officers performed CPR on Van Malssen until paramedics arrived and continued working on him at the station before he was taken to Royal Perth Hospital.
Van Malssen was pronounced dead at 9.15pm. A post-mortem revealed he died of cardiac arrest.
The three-day inquest will look at the actions of the four transit officers, “in particular the appropriateness of their use of force and quality of their monitoring of Josh whilst he was restrained in the prone position”.
At the time of his death, Van Malssen’s father told this masthead he could not understand how his “gentle, kind” son could ever have been a threat and wanted CCTV footage of the incident released to the family.
“The heavy-handed approach, the hurt, the damage, a death, over what? A turnstile fee?” Herman Van Malssen said.
“Joshua was 6 feet 8 inches tall. What sort of effort did they have to use to bring him down?
“He had the mind of a child and not a mean bone in his body. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Herman said his son had lived a tragic short life marred by bullying and health issues.
“He just wanted to fit in and be normal,” he said.
“He had a horrible short life full of operations, doctors and hospitals. He was basically his mum’s full-time job, just so he could fit in and try to live a normal life.
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“I could not have asked for a more loving son.
“Even with all the issues and problems he went through, he was a very cheerful and happy child and the same as a young adult.
“Everyone liked Josh.”
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