Ben Hammond with his newborn, 3 years ago
See new post for update: Escape From Kalgoorlie.. Tanya Hammond Interview May 3
Two days ago, January 19 2016, the Hammond family in the outback gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie Western Australia were allegedly terrorised in their home by police. There appears to be a connection between this and the fact they have been speaking out about compensation for vaccine injury.
Some background…
Two days after the birth of their 8-weeks-premature baby in September 2012, Ben Hammond and his wife Tanya had to have the dTpa vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough), otherwise the hospital would refuse them access to their baby. Both parents had the shots and Ben became ill soon afterwards, and 12 days after the shot he was found on the kitchen floor paralysed.
Since then, Ben has been working through horrendous health problems, and although he has learned to walk again after extensive rehabilitation, he is completely numb from the chest down, has no bowel or bladder function, has limited liver and kidney function, has no immune system worth mentioning, is in constant pain, and is housebound. He has been diagnosed with ADEM, an autoimmune condition similar to MS. Ben was strong and healthy and worked as a mine manager before this happened.
The Hammonds have 5 children, a mortgage and huge medical costs. The benefits they get don’t cover their expenses and they are currently at serious risk of losing their house.
Tanya Hammond has been very public about the need for a No Fault Vaccination Compensation Scheme, doing TV, radio and newspaper interviews since this happened. Tanya and Ben believe if they had to have the vaccine then there should be a compensation plan for injuries like Ben’s.
In November 2014 Tanya was dragged out of her car by a local woman and assaulted for supposedly scaremongering about vaccines, shortly after she was interviewed on local TV. Tanya had her jaw and a bone in her neck fractured, and her windpipe torn. The woman faced court last year and she got off with a fine and a good behaviour bond.
Then the unthinkable happened, 2 days ago the Hammonds were raided by police looking for a drug factory.
Tanya dictated the following account of the raid later that day over the phone to a friend – she was not in any condition to be writing coherently that afternoon. The friend put it up on Facebook and it spread like wildfire, garnering many thousands of shares and comments.
Tanya would have preferred to keep the raid quiet, not wanting to be publicly and incorrectly labelled as connected to drugs. But a Channel 7 TV news crew had shown up during the raid, and seemed to have an unsympathetic angle to their story, which they said they would air that night – so Tanya was very keen to get her version out first. Channel 7 did not air the story.
Tanya Hammond’s account
At 6 am this morning our family were still in bed when we got woken up by cops breaking down our front door! They removed us from our room (where we were sleeping with our 3-year-old) and they tried to force Ben to the floor. I was screaming that he couldn’t because he is disabled, but they wouldn’t listen. I had to watch him trying to get down, but since he couldn’t they slammed him roughly to the ground and pinned him to the floor with a gun to his head.
I was pinned to the ground with a gun against my head also but I kept trying to ask about my baby and trying to see where he was. Each time I tried they kept slamming my head against the floor yelling GET DOWN! GET DOWN! My baby was so upset but I couldn’t help him, I felt so powerless.
screen door
My 11 yr old woke up to my screaming and crying just before he had his room raided by 10 police. They destroyed our 2 front doors, terrified and traumatised my family and when I asked what’s going on they said to wait till the camera gets here before they will tell us. Why would they need a camera crew when we had done nothing wrong? How long had they been planning this?
A good 10 mins later (still pinned to the floor with guns pointed at us) the camera arrived. They told us they had a warrant to search our home for making and selling CRYSTAL METH!! I couldn’t believe my ears, they thought we were drug dealers?!?
Our family is struggling to stay on top of all of the challenges that have tried to destroy us since the Whooping Cough vaccine took away Ben’s health and they think we have the time and energy to make illegal drugs?!? I just couldn’t believe what was happening? I was helpless to protect my kids and my disabled husband, watching them force him to the ground and my little boy screaming while I was pinned to the floor and I couldn’t help them…
They found Ben’s catheters and they categorised them as “sharps” they also took Ben’s medicinal cannabis plant that he uses for managing his pain and his smoking device he uses to administer it and they are charging Ben for that. HE NEEDS THAT to manage the constant pain he is in, nothing else works as pain meds cause him to urinate blood.
Needless to say but they found NO evidence of any Meth or Meth making equipment so they put our family through hell and traumatised all of us for absolutely NOTHING!
We need your moral support even more now than ever, if you can contact your MP and ask them to investigate our case and find out why and how this happened we would really appreciate it. I can’t help but ask, when will our family’s suffering end?
*Note – they asked the police if they had got the wrong house and a policeman yelled “NO YOU ARE BEN HAMMOND”.
This is Ben when he was a mine manager…
Watch this TV news report about the family from June 2014:
January 7 2016 news story..
WA mum’s fundraiser to avert homelessness highlights vaccine scheme concern
Facebook group supporting a compensation scheme..
SEVERE ADVERSE REACTION TO VACCINATION COMPENSATION SCHEME’ for Australians
Hammond family video…
The behaviour of these police probably had nothing to do with vaccines, presumably they believed they were raiding a drug house – they should not have treated people like this even if they did have crystal meth, and they should be punished appropriately.
The Hammonds were set up – the question is by who, and who motivated them.
People’s passions have been inflamed by the media, particularly the Murdoch media who have been campaigning hard for mandatory vaccination in this country. And quite possibly there is involvement by extremist pro-vaccine hate groups who have a track record of harassing anyone who questions vaccines, and whose activities have gone unchecked up till now.
The behaviour of all of these should be thoroughly investigated.
UPDATE Jan 27 2016 – there has been no sign of any investigation into this police action, the Hammonds remain charged with possession of a single marijuana plant which was used for pain relief, the family are dealing with physical injuries and emotional trauma from the raid, it is more important now than ever that you contact your local and WA MPs and ask for an investigation and tangible help for the family.
UPDATE Feb 12 2016 – I’ve now got hold of this newspaper clipping from the Kalgoorlie Miner, from the day after the police raid. I couldn’t find it written out anywhere online. Click or touch to enlarge..
Read follow-up post Hammond Family Get Support From MP
For the latest information visit this post: Escape From Kalgoorlie.. Tanya Hammond Interview May 3
– Robin
These federal police need to be held accountable for such horrific inhumane activity against your family.
I am disgusted and ashamed of the Australian authorities carrying out investigations that proved to be unfounded. Let’s not forget the trauma dealt to your young family which they will not forget.
You and your entire family need to be financially compensated with ongoing support to assist with post traumatic stress still yet to come.
The Australian authorities need to be held accountable for the unfounded damage caused to you and your young family.
Outrageous actions with no evidence to support their ridiculous claims.
I am appalled at their lack of professionalism dealing with this matter. Your poor husband and young children witnessing such shocking treatment.
I hope you are adequately compensated financially and wish you success bringing these unprofessional inappropriate authorities to justice…
thanks so much for your comments Susan, I’ll pass them on to Tanya
Thank you for your support xx
Thank you for you support. Unfortunately its a long battle ( both the vaccine damage and police raid) 3.5 yrs into the vaccine damage and now this raid … its terrifying for us all as we have no family here or money to relocate. Ben desperately needs help that a country town or hospital cant provide. We dont leave our home xx
Thank you so much for sharing and supporting us xx
How disgusting
Who was in charge of all of this we would all like to know
Here’s another video of Ben and Tanya’s story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG8ShHgoq8I&feature=youtu.be
Thank you all for your support xx
Hi all if you can plz help my family relocate to perth so ben can get the help he so desperately needs. It only gets harder …
Much love and thanks from the hammonds
Tanya, I am so sorry to hear about all that has happened to you and your beautiful family. I would love to hear what the outcomes were both in terms of the vaccine compensation and if there was any comeback in the police for this??? I am so shocked and appalled for you all xxx
Having this amount of power over people with no accountability or responsibility is pure evil.
I am beside myself with the injustice heaped upon injustice. Beyond the blatant persecution, retaliation, along with complete lack of any assistance, the dTpa was utterly uncalled for. It could only (possibly) protect Ben, while shedding to the baby:
“Animals that received an acellular pertussis vaccine had the bacteria in their airways for up to six weeks and were able to spread the infection to unvaccinated animals.”
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm376937.htm
There is no justification for requiring a parent to vaccinate with dTpa, and it actually appears to be criminal endangerment of the baby.
Do you have access to a social worker? The best of them have access to a lot of information and assistance. Is your local MP helping you?
Hi Elizabeth – you will see there are links on the article to more information, including about support they’ve had from MPs, you may like to check them out.