Coroner can’t decide if Peter Howard’s fiery death was suicide or ‘spontaneous ignition’ of his car

A beloved father who died in a horrific car fire outside his work may have taken his own life after alleged bullying – but the car may have also spontaneously combusted, a court has found.

A beloved father, husband, brother and friend died in a horrific car fire outside of his workplace after experiencing years of alleged bullying, but a court can’t decide if he took his own life, or if it was a case of spontaneous combustion.

Peter Howard, 59, was working at Orora’s packaging facility on August 28, 2018 when he died in his vehicle after it exploded in full view of his workplace.

In an inquest into the circumstances of his death, Deputy State Coroner Ian White was told Mr Howard had experienced years of harassment at the hands of his colleagues that his family said led to him take his own life.

On Thursday, Mr White handed down his findings from the inquest, nearly six years to the date since Mr Howard’s death, but failed to conclude if he had died by suicide, or if his vehicle – which was filled with three 20L petrol cans – spontaneously combusted.

During the inquest, Mr White heard evidence Mr Howard had been targeted by four people during his employment over the years – the first incident reported in 2014.

Peter Howard in 2017 – one year before his family say he took his own life following many years of repeated alleged workplace bullying.

Peter Howard and wife Sharon in 2017.

“It had been assumed by many people for many years in the lead up to this inquest that Mr Howard’s death was an intentional suicide in direct response to bullying that he had been subject to at his workplace,” Mr White said.

He said on April 16, 2014, a co-worker decided to play a practical joke on him.

“A co-worker, acting alone, decided to put chilli flakes in Mr Howard’s drink bottle without his knowledge. Mr Howard was extremely upset by this prank.

“There was an incident on Thursday, March 18, 2015, where Mr Howard’s forklift seat was tampered with by someone.”

He said there were other instances over the years where Mr Howard had reported allegations of bullying.

Mr Howard’s GP Dr Barry Nicholson told the court his client had referenced “workplace issues” relating to mental health on 21 occasions in 105 visits across 28 years.

Mr Howard kept a workplace diary for almost two decades that documented alleged repetitive and targeted behaviour by colleagues that included tampering with his forklift, teasing and other abuse.

However, Orora’s HR manager told the court she had “not identified a pattern of bullying and harassment of Mr Howard”.

Despite the evidence, and Mr Howard’s family’s belief he had died by suicide, Mr White said he could not conclude why the vehicle had combusted.

“Ultimately, the evidence does not leave me comfortably satisfied to find that he died from suicide or spontaneous ignition,” he said.

Outside court, Peter’s sister Carmel Schwartz said his family was incredibly disappointed to read Mr White had no recommendations to make at the conclusion of the inquest.

“We are disappointed. It’s been almost six years since Peter died and I wish there was a different outcome. We are going to have to move on from it,” she said.

“There needs to be some funding made available to families who begin this ride. I see on the news when someone’s died at work and I think those poor families have no idea what’s coming.

Peter’s sister Carmel said his family was disappointed with the outcome. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Carmel Schwartz, Jacob, Cameron, Sharon and Nathan Howard standing together with a framed photo of Peter Howard. Picture: Morgan Sette

“I think Peter has totally been failed. Failed at the workplace. No one’s been held to account.

She said Mr Howard’s wife, who couldn’t bring herself to face the court during the inquest, had never expected a positive outcome.

“I think she’s been worn down by this process. I still had hope we would get some level of justice but it wasn’t meant to be,” Ms Schwartz said.

“I had hoped that (Mr White) would find Peter had suicided and acknowledged that bullying was the cause.

“Peter exhausted every option open to him in that he filled in incident reports, he spoke to his HR manager, to management, to co-workers. He did everything possible. He spoke to his GP, he did everything humanly possible and none of it worked.

“He could have lodged a stop-bullying order. You can go to the Fair Work Commission and lodge a stop bullying order and then they will be held accountable.”