Failures of Queensland Police responses to domestic violence complaints exposed in report

The case of a Queensland mum wrongly accused as a domestic violence perpetrator despite being raped and beaten by her partner has exposed alarming agency response failures.

The horrific case of a Queensland mum wrongly accused as a domestic violence perpetrator despite being raped and beaten by her partner has exposed alarming agency responses failing women.

A report from the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Board examined eight cases which revealed police and support services failed to adequately respond or missed key risk indicators.

A particularly harrowing case detailed how mother of two, Maeve — not her real name — was identified by police as a perpetrator of family violence in the months before she died by suicide.

A report from the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Board has exposed alarming agency responses failing women. Picture: Supplied

“Just three days before Maeve died by suicide, a current police application for a protection order listing Maeve as the respondent was eventually dropped,” according to the report, which was tabled in state parliament on Monday.

“Cases profiled in this report clearly demonstrate that we can, and must, do more to understand risk and swiftly and effectively respond to protect victims of intimate partner violence and their children.”

The report highlighted the overrepresentation of Indigenous women killed by their partners as well as the alarming pattern of victims being wrongfully accused as the perpetrator.

In the six years to the end of June, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples represented 27.1 per cent of intimate partner homicide victims and 23.4 per cent of family homicide victims.

One case highlighted in the report was of a severely abused woman was identified by police as a perpetrator of family violence in the months before she committed suicide. Picture: Supplied

“A widespread lack of understanding of domestic and family violence, and in particular that it is a gendered phenomenon, is perhaps most apparent with the increase in women being charged or convicted for domestic and family violence related offences in Queensland,” the report said.

“The impact of misidentification and criminalisation is greatest for First Nations women.”

Naomi Murphy, a proud Wakka Wakka woman and respected advocate with lived experience of domestic violence, said the report was further evidence “black women aren’t taken seriously”.

She told The Courier-Mail this cruel phenomena of women being assumed as the perpetrator was commonly associated with a lack of compassion or understanding of intergenerational trauma.

Naomi Murphy, a proud Wakka Wakka woman and respected advocate said the report was evidence “black women aren’t taken seriously.” Picture: Supplied

In response to questions about the misidentification of First Nations victims as perpetrators, Police Minister Mark Ryan said “there is obviously a lot of work that needs to continue to be done”.

“It is a complicated issue and that’s why systems need to improve and there needs to be collaboration across different agencies, community organisations and the police,” he said.

“Every agency and the government, and also the vast majority of the community, really wants systems to improve when it comes to responding to domestic and family violence.

“Tragically, there’s been an experience here where people have lost their lives and I think every Queenslanders’ heart breaks for them.”