Charmaine McLeod inquest: Fatal crash mum’s husband discussed having a ‘second wife’

An inquest into the crash that Charmaine McLeod and her four children has heard how the mother was hearing voices, telling her to commit suicide.

The friend of a woman killed in a crash with her young children said the mother heard voices threatening to kill loved ones if she didn’t commit suicide but the friend did not believe she would ever harm her own kids.

An inquest is examining the deaths of Charmaine McLeod, 35, who was killed with her children Aaleyn, 6, Matilda, 5, Wyatt, 4, and Zaidok, 2, in a head-on collision with a truck near Kingaroy on May 27 2019.

The inquest has heard Ms McLeod was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder and experienced delusions.

One of Ms McLeod’s friends on Thursday told the Brisbane Coroners Court that she would often speak about hearing voices.

“She did talk about voices telling her that if she didn’t kill herself that they would kill somebody that she loved or somebody that she knew,” the witness said.

Hervey Bay's Charmaine Harris McLeod with her four children, Aaleyn, Matilda, Wyatt and Zaidok.

The woman, who can’t be identified, said Ms McLeod also once confided she saw a giraffe on her car and thought it “was quite funny”.

Although Ms McLeod had attempted suicide several times the woman said she would have been “very surprised” if she ever did anything to harm her children.

“I’d be really surprised if she had done this on purpose … I just wouldn’t have imagined her harming those kids,” she said.

The woman told the inquest that Ms McLeod once disclosed to her that Matilda had allegedly been conceived through rape. The woman said Ms McLeod had also told her she had been raped by a stranger on a beach and sexually abused by a relative.

Another friend of Ms McLeod, whose identity was also suppressed, gave evidence the father of the children, James McLeod, criticised his wife for being “overweight” and had discussed having a “second wife”.

The friend rejected a suggestion by Mr McLeod’s barrister Amelia Hughes that her client was actually “encouraging both of them to get healthier, maybe go to the gym”.

Charmaine McLeod and her four children were killed in a crash near Kingaroy in 2019. Picture: Sky News Australia

The witness said about a week before the fatal crash she saw Ms McLeod who was upset over a custody case because “she felt like no one was really helping her”.

“She was calm but she was also upset, she wasn’t hysterical, a little bit teary but OK,” she said.

The inquest heard from a childcare worker who began documenting behaviour problems with Ms McLeod’s son Wyatt.

The woman said she was sitting across the table from Wyatt when he reached out with a knife and said “I’m going to cut you like a bad man cut me”.

The woman alleged Wyatt also said “there’s a bad man at daddy’s”.

She recalled an episode where Wyatt engaged in sexualised behaviour which she felt was outside the bounds of typical child behaviour.

The woman said Ms McLeod had asked her to document any behaviour out of the ordinary regarding her children because she had concerns Wyatt had been inappropriately dealt with.

The woman said she had never met Mr McLeod and had no first hand knowledge of his relationship with his children.

James McLeod leaves the Brisbane Magistrates court on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Another friend told the inquest that police told her they believed Ms McLeod’s daughter Matilda had been “coached” to disclose alleged sexual abuse by her father.

The woman had been caring for the children because Ms McLeod had taken off and when police were called they suggested getting Mr McLeod to collect them, she said.

“It was on loudspeaker and (the police officer) just said something along the lines of there’s no investigation and it seems like the child was coached to say that,” the woman said.

The inquest continues.