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

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) missed two opportunities to prevent the domestic violence murder of Kelly Wilkinson, including one where a reported breach of her protection order “fell through the cracks”, a senior officer has told the inquest into her death.

The coronial inquest into the 27-year-old’s murder heard on Tuesday that her estranged husband, Brian Earl Johnston, was inappropriately granted bail on a charge of rape eight days before he burned her to death on 20 April 2021.

DI Paul Fletcher, who now runs the Gold Coast vulnerable persons group, said that was a “missed opportunity”, as was the decision to incorrectly file a breach of Wilkinson’s protection order as a “street check”.

Wilkinson attended two police stations on 11 April 2021 to report alleged breaches of her domestic violence protection order. At Southport station on 11 April, Const Diana Sovacki wrote in a police log that she “appeared to be cop shopping to get the outcome she wanted”.

Sovacki also, incorrectly, entered her report as a “street check”, though it was taken at the station, the court heard.

Fletcher said domestic violence matters are not supposed to be recorded as street checks because “what that does within the police system, it sort of falls through the cracks”.

“Any systems checks that VPU [the vulnerable persons unit] do, street checks aren’t picked up …” he said. That meant the reported breach was not assessed in the specialist domestic violence unit’s daily checks on all relevant reports, he said.

Because street checks are used for a variety of purposes they can “get lost in the system, so we’re not getting a holistic view of what’s going on for those individuals, because it’s sort of lost in the noise of other information,” Fletcher said.

DI Paul Fletcher is seen outside the inquest into the domestic violence murder of Kelly Wilkinson at the coroner’s court of Queensland on the Gold Coast on Wednesday. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

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

She had been assessed as being at a high risk of coming to harm as a result of domestic violence and her file flagged “high risk DV treat calls as serious”, Fletcher said.

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

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Fletcher explained that there was a “considerable turnaround time” for jobs at the time due to a lack of police resourcing.

“That was just because of the demand and backlog to get out and see everybody and again, just resourcing of officers available to be able to do that role,” he said.

Wilkinson did speak with the DVPC, which asked police to review her case on 4 April.

Teresa Springer, then a constable with the Gold Coast vulnerable persons unit, assessed the request. She told the inquest she had received no formalised training in assessing the risk of domestic violence, but when she started on the job another officer had sat beside her to explain the role.

Springer emailed the DVPC back the same day, to report she had not identified any issues with the police approach and that policies had been followed.

“If Miss Wilkinson is unhappy with the outcomes, then she has the option to lodge a complaint with the officer in charge of the involved station,” she wrote in the email.

Springer told the court she wasn’t trying to be condescending or rude, and was just advising Wilkinson that she had the opportunity to make a complaint.

The deputy state coroner, Stephanie Gallagher, will hear the last of five witnesses today. The brief three-day inquest will conclude on Thursday with closing submissions by lawyers.

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

The coronial inquest is not considering whether the police response was appropriate, why Johnston, 37, killed his wife or whether any officer’s action could have prevented her death.

Though it is not in the listed issues at the inquest, under the Coroners Act Gallagher may also comment or make recommendations about anything connected with Wilkinson’s death that relates to public health or safety, the administration of justice, or ways to prevent deaths from happening in similar circumstances in the future

The court heard that the issues were drawn up “very narrowly” due to a pending criminal trial of Johnston for rape.

The inquest continues.

In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org.