A woman who died in a grisly house fire at the hands of her estranged and abusive ex-partner did “everything right” in going to police and support services before her death, an inquest has been told.
Ines Ilijasevic, a specialist support worker with the Centre for Women, revealed the shocking developments before Southport Magistrates Court on Wednesday as the inquest into Doreen Langham’s 2021 death reached its third day.
The inquest is exploring the adequacy of the police response to Ms Langham’s domestic violence plight and her triple-0 call the night she died.
Ms Langham’s body was found alongside the body of her estranged ex-partner, Gary Hely, after her Browns Plains home went up in flames on February 22, 2021.
Ms Ilijasevic gave evidence the Centre for Women had unsuccessfully attempted to reach out to Ms Langham after police first referred her to the service.
In February 2021, they got in contact with Ms Langham after she took out a domestic violence order against Hely.
Ms Ilijasevic said Ms Langham’s case was designated “high risk” as Hely had made threats to kill her and had threatened to take his own life.
She revealed Ms Langham had asked the locks on her home to be changed.
Ben Jackson, counsel assisting the coroner, asked Ms Ilijasevic if she would do anything differently with Ms Langham’s case in hindsight.
“Obviously I’ve thought about this quite a lot, I think I did everything I possibly could with Doreen,” Ms Ilijasevic said.
“You could say she did everything right, she reached out numerous times to police, engaged with specialist services, did safety planning and added safety measures to her home.
“Somehow that still wasn’t enough.”
Ms Ilijasevic said part of the problem in addressing domestic violence was that it was treated as a civil, not criminal, matter.
She said this created issues with perpetrators not being held accountable for breaches, insisting a greater emphasis on accountability and diversion programs could address the problems.
The inquest was told Hely’s relationship with Ms Langham was marked with controlling, abusive behaviour before she broke it off.
Mr Jackson told the court earlier this week by stating Hely forced his way into her home early on February 22, 2021.
He brought five litres of petrol with him.
“Ms Langham perished in her own home, due to a fire he had started,” Mr Jackson said on Monday.
On Tuesday, police bodycam footage of Hely being served his DVO ten days before the house fire was played to the court.
Body-worn camera footage shows Gary Hely signing his DVO and swearing Doreen Langham had nothing to fear anxjmtzywd that he had never been violent.
Hely tells the officer he accepted the orders but can be heard saying he was “shocked” and his ex-partner had nothing to fear.
The night before Ms Langham died, she phoned triple-0 saying Hely was outside her house and she had seen a “shadow”.
The officers who attended gave evidence they did not conduct further investigations apart from knocking on her door and leaving.
“Would you agree this is pretty basic policing?” Mr Jackson asked.
The officer answered: “Yes.”
The inquest, before deputy state coroner Jane Bentley, continues.
