Police officers, who accused her of faking her condition, handcuffed her, carried her to the back of their van and returned her to the hospital; she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

A coronial inquest found that she had suffered "unprofessional and inhumane" handling by police and "deficient" treatment from hospital staff.

The inquest recommended that the justice system should stop imprisoning people for unpaid fines and introduce a Custody Notification Scheme (CNS).

Attorney-General of Western Australia John Quigley introduced legislative amendments to cease jailing people for unpaid fines in September 2019, which were implemented in June 2020.

[3]: 5  Dhu completed Year Eleven;[3]: 5  according to her family, after leaving school, she seemed to associate "with a bad crowd" and was a "wild child".

[4] In November 2009, when she was 17, police found Dhu sleeping near Cable Beach; when they woke her she appeared to be intoxicated, swore at them and said "I don't remember anything after taking that eccy".

[4] In 2013, at age 21, Dhu began a relationship with a 42-year-old man, Dion Ruffin, who had several children by previous partners and—unknown to Dhu—had criminal convictions for domestic violence.

Her grandmother helped Dhu leave Ruffin and paid for the 1,100 km (683.5 mi) bus journey from Geraldton to Karratha, where they had relatives.

One of its 339 recommendations was an end to issuing arrest warrants for unpaid fines,[5] and another was the implementation of Custody Notification Schemes (CNS) in all Australian states and territories.

[17] On 2 August 2014, police received a telephone call informing them Ruffin had violated the terms of an apprehended violence order; at the later inquest into Dhu's death, nobody gave evidence about the caller's identity.

Medical staff notes said Dhu was "Crying in pain ... tachycardic, grunting, dehydrated and had a pulse rate of 126 beats a minute".

[2] Vafa Naderi, a doctor who had witnessed Dhu attending the Health Campus the previous night, performed an ultrasound examination on her chest then discharged her with a paracetamol tablet and declared her well enough to return to police custody.

Officer Shelly Burgess, who had just arrived on shift, stated that Sergeant Bond told her Dhu was a "junkie" that was "full of shit" and "faking" her illness.

[18][27] In October 2014, after more details of her time in custody had been made public, Dhu's family asked for a coroner's inquest into her death.

[28] They also called for the end of imprisonment for unpaid fines, the introduction of a CNS, 24-hour medical coverage and independent oversight at all police stations, "and justice reinvestment into communities, not prisons".

[28] Premier Barnett expressed his sympathy for Dhu's family at a Perth rally in late 2014, and promised to make sure that "the full truth will come out",[29] but insisted the inquest they were calling for would not be necessary.

[2][32] Members of Dhu's family, medical staff involved in her treatments and 10 police officers were interviewed as part of the inquest.

[4] Burgess received the severest disciplinary action of the eleven; a warning notice from the assistant commissioner for the "lack of urgency" she displayed after Dhu hit her head on the concrete.

Two of the officers who received warnings had since been promoted; Sergeant Bond had quit the police force, telling the inquest he had done so for "family reasons".

"[4] Senior medical officer Ganesan Sakarapani said the Hedland Health Campus did not have a culture of institutionalised racism and rejected a suggestion that if Dhu had been white, she would have been treated differently.

[2] Dhu's family were unhappy with the result as the inquest did not hold any person accountable for her death, and told media they intended to pursue further legal action.

Dennis Eggington, the chief executive of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA), said the coroner's recommendations were "fine" but they had come too late.

[38] In May 2016, a report by Neil Morgan, Inspector of Custodial Services, recommended that WA stop jailing people for unpaid fines.

[40] In October 2016 Nigel Scullion, the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, offered to fund the first three years of implementation for any state that legislated a CNS.

[41] In March 2017, just prior to the 2017 state election, Dhu's family criticised both of the major political parties in WA for not supporting such a scheme.

The payment does not prevent Dhu's family from taking further legal action, and was separate from a civil suit lodged in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in July 2017 by them.

John Quigley supported such a program, saying if the Aboriginal Legal Service had been contacted about Ms Dhu's arrest "it would have been a very different outcome".

"[17] At the time, a reform proposal to end jailing people for unpaid fines was expected to be introduced in the WA state parliament later in 2018.

[52] In April 2021, Vafa Naderi, the doctor who assessed Dhu on 3 August and declared her fit to be detained, was fined $30,000 by the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia.

The Tribunal found Naderi's actions constituted professional misconduct, concluding he provided "inadequate and substantially below-standard care" to Dhu, though did not suspend him from practising medicine, noting his remorse, acknowledgement of his mistake and the fact he had no previous disciplinary charges.