Queensland police: woman who was raped and abused killed herself after being wrongly identified as offender, report finds

A Queensland woman who was raped, physically assaulted and subject to financial abuse by her partner, killed herself after being wrongly identified as a perpetrator of domestic violence by police, a coronial study has found.

The 2022 report of the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Board raised concern that police and support services are missing – or not adequately responding to – key indicators of lethal risk.

It revealed that Queensland police had prior contact with the primary perpetrator of domestic violence in more than 70% of intimate partner homicide cases, where the person had any contact with services, since 2016.

The annual report, tabled in parliament on Monday, highlights several anonymised homicide and suicide cases, including Maeve*, a mother of two children, who was pregnant when she died.
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Maeve was subject to physical assault, rape, sexual violence, financial abuse, non-lethal strangulation and verbal abuse by her partner.

But she was named as the respondent – or perpetrator – on a domestic violence protection order taken out by police.

The report details that the police’s vulnerable persons unit raised concern that the order imposed by a frontline officer “was inappropriate as she was the victim of violence” and recommended that it be withdrawn. That advice was rejected by both the responding officer and his superior.

The day the order was ultimately withdrawn, Maeve attempted to kill herself and disclosed to police that her partner “had told her to kill herself”.

A police officer who attended the hospital then applied for a new protection order, listing Maeve as the respondent, on the basis that “exposing her ex-partner and her unborn child to threats (in this case actual) self-harm would seem to fall within the broad definition of DV”.

She killed herself three days later.

“Concerningly, on both occasions where police had contact with Maeve, the police officers turned off their body worn camera mid-interview with her,” the report said.

“On the first occasion, the pregnant Maeve had tried to explain that she had accidentally hit [her partner] – who was significantly taller than her – in self-defence, as she was trying to free herself from his restraint and to stop herself being thrown against the wall.”
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Police have previously claimed most domestic violence killings occur off the radar of authorities.