Court can’t make definitive determination on whether Isei Navutovuto set girlfriend, Florrie ‘Kay’ Reuben, on fire

The autopsy of a woman who suffered “unsurvivable” burns to nearly 100 per cent of her body has left question marks surrounding her death. Find out why.

Florrie "Kory" Reuben died from injuries she suffered in a house fire at Ayr on Tuesday.

Conflicting evidence means a court cannot say with certainty who poured petrol on an Ayr woman before she was set alight and killed, a barrister has told the Coroners Court.

Final submissions in the inquest into the death of Florrie “Kay” Reuben concluded this week in the Coroners Court jurisdiction at Townsville.

Ms Reuben died on August 9, 2022, after a fatal fire inside the Ayr home she shared with her partner, Isei Navutovuto.

She sustained unsurvivable burns to 97 per cent of her body and was pronounced dead at 3:10pm that day.

Barrister Sarah Lane told the court on Thursday that conflicting testimony and evidence had made it difficult to establish exactly how Ms Reuben came to be set alight.

Emergency services provided high-level medical care at the scene and at Townsville University Hospital, but her injuries were described as “incompatible with life.”

Forensic pathologist Dr Rebecca Williams, who performed the autopsy on August 12, stated she believed Mr Navutovuto had poured the petrol.

However, burn and trauma expert Dr Michael Muller offered a different interpretation.

Dr Muller, a surgeon at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and professor at the University of Queensland, said the burn pattern on Ms Reuben’s body was more consistent with someone who had poured liquid over themselves while lying on their back.

Police and fire crews on the scene of a house fire in Ayr on Home Hill Rd.

“Although it is impossible to say definitively, the pattern is what we see when the person has poured liquid over themselves, and most likely when lying supine (on their back facing upward),” he said.

“It is possible that another person poured the flammable liquid over Ms Reuben but she would’ve had to be restrained or unconscious to have sustained the pattern demonstrated in the images examined.”

However, because Ms Reuben was seen walking shortly after the fire started, he considered it unlikely she had been unconscious at the time.

He also noted that if fuel had been thrown at her by another person, the deepest burns would typically appear on the side of the body, as the victim turns away reflexively.

In contrast, Ms Reuben’s most severe burns were on her front and chest, with lighter burns on her lower back.

Based on photographs and medical records of Ms Reuben’s burns, Dr Muller concluded it was not possible to say definitively whether she ignited the fuel herself or whether someone else did.

Ms Lane said two separate fires were lit inside the home, with one neighbour telling police he saw Mr Navutovuto pouring accelerant inside the hallway and could smell petrol.

Police had prepared to charge Mr Navutovuto with homicide had he survived his own injuries, which covered 45 per cent of his body.

Police and fire crews on the scene of a house fire in Ayr on Home Hill Rd.

However, he died later that month from organ failure due to those burns.

Ms Lane said a determination could not be made as to exactly how the fire started or that it was Mr Navutovuto who started the fire due to a lack of sufficient evidence.

During her final submission, Ms Lane said Ms Reuben told a close family member “I don’t know why he wants to burn the house down, I told him, ‘just pour fuel on me and burn me down’,” when they discussed the death threats Mr Navutovuto had made to her in the weeks leading up to her death.

“Although family members told Ms Reuben that this is serious and she should report the threat to police, neither Ms Reuben nor her family members do so,” she said.

The court heard a lot of the couple’s arguments stemmed from Ms Reuben’s gambling habit and Mr Navutovuto would become aggressive and argumentative when he had been drinking.

She also repeatedly told police she was not fearful of her partner, which Ms Lane pointed out did not take away from Mr Navutovuto’s escalating violence as there was no such thing as a “perfect victim”.

The entirety of recommendations from the inquest will be published at a later date by Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher after police consultation.

Originally published as Court can’t make definitive determination on whether Isei Navutovuto set girlfriend, Florrie ‘Kay’ Reuben, on fire