Despite dragging on for three years, the coronial inquest into the Wiradjuri, Wirangu and Kookatha man's death is still not providing any answers or closure for his family.
Lawyers for the guards questioned MacPherson about whether he could have misunderstood.
MacPherson, however, insisted the words had âstuck in his mindâ over the past five years and that he read the conversation as a direction.
He also said that when Chapman had asked another guard about the physical status of Morrison after he had learned he was hospitalised, his tone lacked empathy.
In a statement given to police earlier this month partially read out in the inquest, MacPherson had recalled that Chapman had asked, âheâs not dead is he?â and said the comment âseemed to be said in frustration of the scrutiny and paperwork that a fatality would bringâ.
Over the course of proceedings both guards were told the coroner had received considerable evidence about the events of that day and were invited to either view critical documents or make statements about this evidence but both officers declined.
Both men repeatedly claimed legal protections against self-incrimination to avoid being made to answer questions about the restraint of Morrison, the transit in the prison van, or decisions around when to perform CPR.
When they were directed to answer, both men claimed they could not recall significant detail from that day.
The coroner also heard how in the hours after Morrison had been taken to hospital, Shillabeer had finished his shift and left the prison to travel to Port Augusta in order to watch a friend play in a football grand final.
Corrections officers told to give evidence at inquest Corrections officers transporting Wayne Fella Morrison in a prison van when he died will give evidence – as the dead man’s family gathered in protest.
News by Jordanna Schriever
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Subscriber only Corrections officers who were in the van with Wayne Fella Morrison before he was pulled out unresponsive can make specific claims for privilege against self-incrimination or penalty on a question by question basis, a coroner has ruled. It comes as Mr Morrison s family staged a call to action seeking a ban on the use of spit hoods in South Australia and across the country.