The Queensland Court of Appeal has awarded a Palm Island couple more than $200,000 in damages after a dawn raid on their home by police following the riots in 2004.

The Queensland Court of Appeal has awarded a Palm Island couple more than $200,000 in damages after a dawn raid on their home by police following the riots in 2004.

David Bulsey was awarded $165,000, while his former partner, Yvette Lenoy, received $70,000 for trauma suffered during and after the police raid.

The judgement revealed that Mr Bulsey had been dragged out of bed and onto the street handcuffed by heavily armed and masked police, and held for days on charges that were later dropped.

Ms Lenoy, who was heavily pregnant at the time, was intimidated and briefly detained at gunpoint during the raid, which happened in front of their young children.

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In overturning an earlier judgment that dismissed the couple's lawsuit against the state, three judges were critical of their heavy-handed treatment by police.

Justice Roslyn Atkinson said the couple "Were not treated as one might expect in a civilised society governed by the rule of law".

The riot on Palm Island was sparked by the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee.