Queensland police breached the racial discrimination act during their response to a high-profile Aboriginal custody death and rioting on Palm Island 12 years ago, a federal court judge has found.

Justice Debbie Mortimer on Monday ruled in favour of an extraordinary class action on behalf of Palm Islanders, which alleged police actions after the death of Cameron (Mulrunji) Doomadgee in November 2004 wouldn’t have happened in a community that wasn’t predominantly Aboriginal.

Justice Mortimer said she found some, but not all, of the claims in the class action brought by once-jailed rioter Lex Wotton, to be unlawful discrimination.

She awarded $220,000 in compensation to Mr Wotton and his family.

In a written summary, Justice Mortimer found the officers with command and control of the death investigation did not act “impartially or independently”.

She also found an emergency declaration issued after the police station was set on fire was part of “facilitating an excessive and disproportionate policing response”.

“I have found that police acted in these ways because they were dealing with an Aboriginal community,” she said.

“I have found they conducted themselves … with a sense of impunity.”

One of the claims made by the class action was that the response to the riots and an emergency declaration were excessive.

A trial heard balaclava-clad officers marched through the small community’s streets and pointed large guns at children’s heads during early-morning post-riot raids.

Mr Wotton was tasered, allegedly without warning, in front of his children.

Justice Mortimer awarded $95,000 damages to Mr Wotton, $115,000 to his wife Cecilia, and $10,000 to his mother Agnes.

Damages claims by other claimants will be dealt with at a later date.

She said she was satisfied SERT officers would not have “forced their way into houses occupied by unarmed families … pointing assault rifles at them and yelling at them to lie down” in a community that wasn’t isolated and predominantly Aboriginal.

She also said she would not order an apology but directed that the Commissioner of Police consider whether one is appropriate.

Lex Wotton launched the Federal Court action on behalf of Palm Islanders. Photo: ABC

The rioting a week after Doomadgee was arrested by Snr Sgt Chris Hurley was sparked when a preliminary autopsy report found the local man’s death was an accident, despite him having four ribs and his liver almost cleaved in two.

A video played to the court showed a shirtless Mr Wotton taking a microphone in front of an agitated crowd in the town square.

“Things gunna burn,” he said before later being filmed with a large plumber’s wrench, which he used to smash the station windows.

The police station and barracks, as well as a home occupied by Sen Sgt Hurley, were razed during the riot.

The State of Queensland and commissioner of police denied all the applicants’ allegations of discrimination.

Their lawyers argued the riot situation was more serious than made out by the community’s representation, and that armed residents had the capacity to make good their threats against police.

A jury acquitted Snr Sgt Hurley of Doomadgee’s manslaughter in 2007.

He was convicted of assaulting a man he grabbed by the throat and pointed a Taser at during a roadside arrest on the Gold Coast in 2013 last Friday.

The Queensland Police Union rejected the findings outright, with President Ian Leavers rejecting any suggestion police officers conducted themselves differently because they were dealing with an Aboriginal community.

“Whether this situation happened in an indigenous community or in downtown Brisbane CBD such as the Queen Street Mall, police would behave exactly the same way and have done so in the past,” Mr Leavers said.

“I personally know many police who served and continue to serve on both Palm Island at that time and in Indigenous communities and I know they are not racist.”