- Published:
- Monday 30 March 2026 at 10:00 am
Statement from Jeffrey’s mother, Ursulla Winmar
Jeffrey texted me on 6 October 2023. He said, ‘Happy Birthday my Queen, you’re the best person I ever got to meet and I am so glad and proud that I get to call you my mum.’
That was his last birthday wish to me.
Family was everything to Jeffrey, his love for his son was profound. He had so much love to give. He was always on the phone, checking in on all of us, showing up for people who needed him. In recent years, he had started working on himself and re-connecting with his faith and ringing me more often. He spoke to me about learning humbleness, patience – about becoming the best version of himself he knew he could be.
He was the kind of person who shared that knowledge freely, like a gift he couldn’t keep for himself. For his younger siblings, he was a protector and a guide, helping shape them to be better people, to be ready to face the world.
He taught his sister Margaret how to drive. Margaret said she knew she stressed him out, but he always went with gentleness and humour. When he watched his little brother Philip play footy, he’d write down all his stats for him. Jeffrey worked with both Philip and Eli, and helped them train for boxing. Margaret and Roberta would teach him how to do TikTok dances wherever they could – the backyard, the park – sometimes squeezed in between the boys’ footy training.
Jeffrey was 28.
I am looking for justice for my son. I want people to be accountable for what happened to him. We should not have had to come this far to seek the truth. Two years later, we are still in the dark about how he ended up in hospital with internal bleeding and organ failure.
No mother should have to navigate a coronial inquest to get basic answers. But we are here because the processes that are meant to protect our people and hold systems accountable have failed us. Until this country properly accounts for First Nations deaths in custody – and until those responsible for their care are genuinely held to account – there will be more Jeffreys. More mothers like me. More broken homes like ours.
My kids have pleaded with me not to let the same thing happen this time. For something to change, for someone to be held to account. Without it, I don’t know what will become of our family. I have been robbed of my son. How will we continue to live with this pain?
We placed our trust in a system supposed to protect us. But systems protect themselves first – the way a family closes ranks when one of its own is questioned. I understand that instinct, but I cannot accept it when it comes at the cost of my son’s life.
Ursulla painted her first dot painting after Jeffrey’s passing.
‘There is a circle, the circle is the family chain but it’s broken now. It shows the family, with a red dot at the centre representing the blood of Jesus Christ. I’m at the top of the circle, then there is Lionel and his children, Linda and her children … then where the circle is broken it shows Jeffrey going up in glory to the heavens. There is a line showing his son on his own. Then Emma and her child, Margaret, Philip, Roberta and Eli. On the far right there are blue footprints, Jeffrey’s footprints. They are circled by white dots, representing the spirit world, then surrounded by red dots representing his blood, spilled too early on the earth.’
Updated