Queensland police missed two opportunities to prevent Kelly Wilkinson’s murder, inquest hears | Queensland

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) missed two opportunities to prevent the domestic violence murder of Kelly Wilkinson, an inquest into the death of a senior police officer has heard; one of which reportedly said the violation of the protection order “fell through the cracks.”

The criminal inquest into the 27-year-old woman’s murder heard on Tuesday that her estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, had been granted bail on charges of indecent rape eight days before he burned himself to death on April 20, 2021.

DI Paul Fletcher, who now runs the vulnerable people group on the Gold Coast, said it was a “missed opportunity”, as was Wilkinson’s decision to mistakenly report the breach of the protection order as a “street check”.

Wilkinson attended two police stations on April 11, 2021, to report alleged violations of a domestic violence protection order. At Southport station on April 11, Constable Diana Sovacki wrote in police records that “it appeared he was cop shopping to get the outcome he wanted.”

The court said Sovacki also mistakenly entered his report as a “street check”, but the report was received at the station.

Fletcher said domestic violence matters should not be recorded as street checks because “it kind of misses what it does within the police system.”

“Any system VPU [the vulnerable persons unit] “Do it, street checks are not taken into account…” he said, adding that this meant that the reported violation was not considered in the domestic violence specialist unit’s daily checks on all relevant reports.

Fletcher said that because street checks are used for a variety of purposes, “they can get lost in the system, so we don’t get a holistic view of what’s going on for these individuals because they’re lost in the noise of other information.”

Wilkinson repeatedly sought help from the police and an external non-governmental organisation, the Domestic Violence Prevention Center (DVPC).

Fletcher said he was assessed as a high risk of harm as a result of domestic violence and his file was marked “seriously consider high-risk DV summons.”

But a referral to the Southport domestic violence liaison officer was never opened and Wilkinson never spoke to a specialist officer to develop a safety plan before he died.

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Fletcher explained that there was a “significant turnaround time” for work at the time due to police lack of resources.

“This was because of the backlog and the demand to go out and see everyone over and over again, just to provide resources to existing officers who could fill that role,” he said.

Wilkinson spoke to the DVPC and asked police to review his case on April 4.

Teresa Springer, then a police officer with the Gold Coast’s vulnerable people unit, weighed in on the request. He told the inquest he had no formal training in assessing domestic violence risk, but when he started work another officer sat down next to him to explain his role.

Springer emailed the DVPC the same day to say he had identified no problems with the police approach and that policies were being followed.

“If Ms Wilkinson is unhappy with the results then she has the option of lodging a complaint with the officer in charge of the relevant station,” he wrote in his email.

Springer told the court he was not trying to be condescending or rude and was simply advising Wilkinson that he had an opportunity to make a complaint.

Deputy state coroner Stephanie Gallagher will hear the last of five witnesses today. The brief three-day investigation will end on Thursday with the lawyers’ closing presentations.

Gallagher will consider whether QPS’s response to Wilkinson’s complaints was in line with policy at the time and “whether QPS has made appropriate changes to training, policy and procedure to address any deficiencies identified in relation to DV responses.”

The criminal investigation does not consider whether the police response was appropriate, why Johnston, 37, killed his wife or whether any police officer’s actions could have prevented her death.

Although not among the matters listed at the inquest, under the Coroners Act Gallagher may comment or make recommendations on anything connected with Wilkinson’s death, relating to public health or safety, the administration of justice or ways to prevent deaths from occurring in similar circumstances in the future.

The court heard the matters were framed “very narrowly” because of Johnston’s ongoing criminal trial for rape.

The investigation continues.

national in Australia domestic violence counseling service on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national number. domestic violence helpline Call 0808 2000 247 or visit: Aid to Women. The domestic violence hotline in the US is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be reached at: www.befrienders.org.