‘Do you want to die?’: Killer threatens hero who tried to save DV victim Karina Lock

A bystander who risked his life to try to save a Gold Coast woman from her violent partner on the day he shot her dead has been hailed as a hero by the deputy state coroner.

A coroner has hailed the bravery of a bystander who tried to stop a Gold Coast woman being shot dead by her estranged husband in a horrific domestic violence killing at a McDonald’s restaurant, but says the system failed to protect her.

Karina Lock, 49, was shot in the head by her ex Stephen Lock at McDonald’s Helensvale in September 2015. Lock then turned the gun on himself.

In non-inquest findings handed down on Friday, deputy state coroner Jane Bentley lauded the heroics of restaurant patron David Udinga who tried to intervene after hearing a gunshot and a woman screaming ‘help me, help me’.

He saw the couple struggling in a car before Mrs Lock got out saying: “He’s going to kill me.”

“Mr Udinga ran to the car and told Mr Lock to stay in the car however Mr Lock exited brandishing a gun (later identified as a black .22 calibre semi automatic pistol),” Ms Bentley said in her findings.

Murdered mother of four Karina Lock. Photo supplied

“Mr Udinga tried to get Mr Lock back into the vehicle and told him to drop the gun, but Mr Lock aimed the gun at Mr Udinga’s head and said, “Do you want to die?

“At great risk to himself, Mr Udinga tried to assist when Ms Lock escaped the car and made her way into the restaurant. He is to be commended for his act of bravery and selflessness.”

Ms Bentley found that, ‘overall there were examples where support services, health systems and the Queensland Police Service provided a high level of assistance and support to Ms Lock’.

“However, the support provided by services was insufficient to protect her from Mr Lock as was the Domestic Violence Protection Order which was in force,” she found.

“A more integrated approach may have made a difference to the tragic outcome, however, it is unlikely to have done so.”

Ms Bentley said reforms to domestic abuse services and laws continued to be identified and implemented and were the subject of a task force chaired by former judge Margaret McMurdo.