Ellouisa Brighton Gibson used multiple names before Harristown house fire
A woman under police guard after the death of three of her children in a suspicious Toowoomba house fire had used multiple names in different states.
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A woman under police guard after the death of three of her children in a suspicious Toowoomba house fire had used multiple names in different states, with interstate welfare authorities not alerting Queensland of her past.
The Courier-Mail has been told mother Ellouisa Brighton Gibson, 36, had histories in Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory and West Australia.
However she did not have any welfare history in Queensland and it’s understood authorities here were unaware of her past because they weren’t notified, which was further complicated by her using multiple names.
Gibson remained in a critical condition in hospital on Friday after the fire at her family’s Harristown home about 12.30am on Wednesday.
It claimed the lives of three of her children, a nine-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old girl. Her partner escaped the fire and tried to help get the children out of the home, police said.
Detectives are investigating whether the children had fuel poured on them before the house was set alight. No charges have been laid.
Nationally, child safety authorities can access Connect 4 Safety, a national information sharing platform which advises of interstate contact.
However the Queensland tragedy has raised questions about national reporting obligations when a person or family moves interstate, after authorities here were not told.
Multiple interstate departments refused to comment about what information would be generally provided when a person moves to another state or could not respond before The Courier-Mail’s deadline.
But authorities in South Australian said their state government was committed to working with all states and territories to ensure child protection information was shared in a timely and effective way.
“South Australia is part of the Interstate Child Protection Protocol agreement between all states and territories, which provides a framework for how information should be shared between jurisdictions,” the spokesperson said.
“South Australian authorities use the Connect for Safety child protection information search tool, which supports the exchange of data quickly and securely between state and territory child protection agencies.”
Queensland’s department of child safety said it was unable to comment specifically about the family.
But it responded to questions on when and how information was shared with Queensland if a person or family moved to the state.
“We will only request or receive information about a family when we have been notified of child protection concerns or there is an active, ongoing intervention with a family,” a spokesman said.
“If a notification is made from another state or territory, we access Connect 4 Safety, which is a national information sharing platform which advises of interstate contact.
“Connect 4 Safety allows authorised statutory child protection practitioners to quickly identify if information exists for a person in any jurisdictional child protection agency across Australia.
“It will only be used if there is a reasonable belief that a child or relevant person may have an interstate child protection history.”
Police this week said they were investigating any interactions they had with the family.
The Courier-Mail understands police were previously called to a domestic violence incident involving the family about six years ago but had none in recent times.
When asked generally if the family was known to police, Detective Superintendent George Marchesini confirmed police had some interaction with the family previously but would not go into further detail.
“It certainly wasn’t a premises that police were regularly attending,” he said.
Originally published as Ellouisa Brighton Gibson used multiple names before Harristown house fire
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