‘Time bomb set to explode’: Girlfriend killer’s sadistic threats hours before murder

Killer Brock Wall, who bludgeoned his pregnant girlfriend to death, told police he would ‘go to jail’ over his upcoming actions but they ignored the threats. Soon after, she was dead.

A savage killer who bludgeoned his pregnant girlfriend to death with a tomahawk wrote in his prison diary that he would “love” to kill his own mother if he got the chance, a coroner has revealed.

Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley on Wednesday released her non-inquest findings into the death of Fabiana Palhares, saying police failed to identify and act on a series of domestic violence risk factors before she was bludgeoned to death with an axe by the father of her unborn child.

Brock Wall is serving two life sentences for the slaying of 34-year-old Ms Palhares at her Varsity Lakes home in February 2015.

The report revealed that guards discovered a notebook in Wall’s cell in which he wrote that he would “love to kill his mother if he got the chance”.

Ms Bentley said the violent murder of Ms Palhares came after a sustained period of domestic violence against her.

“The attack that resulted in her death was the culmination of a long period of domestic and family violence inflicted on her by Mr Wall which included verbal, emotional and physical abuse including nonlethal strangulation, coercive control, threats to kill her and her family and their unborn child,” Coroner Bentley wrote.

“The history of (domestic violence) by Mr Wall revealed numerous risk factors which were not identified or acted upon by (Queensland Police).

Brock Wall is serving two life sentences after the death of Fabiana Palhares and her unborn child.

“Mr Wall revealed to DVConnect Mensline that he was going to harm Ms Palhares but the call taker did not record this information or notify any person or agency of the threat.”

In 2018 Wall was handed two life sentences for the slaying of Ms Palhares and her unborn child.

“Whilst it is impossible to determine whether the tragic outcome for Ms Palhares would have been avoided if those agencies had addressed the issues adequately, it is clear that Ms Palhares was not assisted as comprehensively as she could have been had the information provide to those agencies been dealt with appropriately,” the coroner said.

However she did not make any recommendations for changes, saying there had been significant improvements made by both organisations relating to their DV procedures.

She found there was no need for an inquest given the improvements already implemented, saying she could not identify any recommendations for preventing similar deaths that have not already been identified and implemented.

In sentencing in 2018, the court heard Wall had “terrorised” Ms Palhares in the month leading up to her murder.

Fabiana Palhares

Fabiana Palhares

“You stalked her, spied on her, denigrated her and abused her,” Justice Ann Lyons told him.

“You killed a young woman and her child in a prolonged and savage attack.”

Wall will be eligible for parole in 2034.

Three days before the murder, a court varied a domestic violence protection order to stop Wall approaching within 50 metres of Ms Palhares home.

In the week before the slaying, Wall was contacted by the DVConnect Mensline and he admitted to having a “very negative view of women” and said he had thoughts about “harming all women”.

The coroner’s report revealed that despite directly expressing “homicidal ideation” towards Ms Palhares and making several other “concerning comments”, they were not reflected in the helpline’s records.

“According to the recording, Mr Wall explained to the DVConnect Mensline counsellor that he would like to be ‘taken off the face of the earth and have his brain electrocuted or something … so he can come back fresh and probably come back and f---en kill the woman that is pregnant’,” the coroner’s report said.

“The counsellor recommended that Mr Wall speak to his counsellor, but Mr Wall dismissed her as a ‘crock of shit’ and that she was not to be trusted.

“Mr Wall further told the call-handler to “remember this call. My name is Brock and I will be in the news one day for going off. I will be like a time bomb that is going to explode.’

He disclosed that he was “a very sadistic person so much that it scares me and will probably put me in jail one day’.”

Wall also told the helplines that he got great satisfaction from revenge but none of his threats were recorded by the helpline which did not attempt to reconnect with him when the call was abruptly ended.

Days later on January 30 when an officer called to tell him the DV order had been amended, he said he would ‘go to jail over this’.

On February 2, the day Ms Palhares was killed, he told a police officer that she was not a victim but was the ‘super bitch’ and he went to collect the DV order at about 12.30.

“Mr Wall verbalised his understanding of the conditions but reported that he was ‘very angry’,” the coroner wrote.

“He stated that Ms Palhares ‘is pregnant and she is not going to have that baby because she is a slut.’

“The officer reiterated that Mr Wall would be arrested if he breached the order and he replied that it ‘looks like police will be coming to arrest me.’

“This was the last known contact Mr Wall had with formal services prior to the homicide of Ms Palhares, which occurred around two hours later.”

In the two months before the murder, both Ms Palhares and Wall had at least seven contacts with police and the coroner said there were recurring issues with the police response including a failure of to appropriately document, identify, respond to and investigate reports of domestic and family violence, an insufficient understanding and recognition of the dynamics of DFV.

“A total of twenty-six lethality risk factors were present for Ms Palhares and most of these risks were known to responding officers or were reported to police previously and, therefore, accessible through review of the Queensland Police records…,” she said.

By comparison, on average 11.2 lethality risk factors are present for culturally and linguistically diverse intimate partner homicide victims in Queensland.

The coroner said it appeared that police responded to each report of DFV in isolation, rather than as an escalating pattern of behaviour.

“For example, on 21 January 2015, less than two weeks prior to the death of Ms Palhares, Mr Wall entered Ms Palhares’ bedroom and read the contents of her phone, an example of his obsessive behaviour, male sexual proprietarieness and escalating post-separation violence,” she wrote.

The responding officers did not seek to amend the DV protection order in place to further protect Ms Palhares or hold Wall accountable for his violence which placed the onus on the victim to manage her own safety.

Shockingly, the coroner found in the days and hours before the murder, Wall had three contacts with police in which he referred to Ms Palhares in a derogatory manner and indicated to two different police officers that he intended to breach the DVPO and cause further harm to Ms Palhares.

“Most notably, Mr Wall had contact with an officer on the morning of Ms Palhares’ death and suggested that ‘police will be coming to arrest’ him for breaching the order,” Coroner Bentley wrote.

“Indeed, this was two hours before Mr Wall killed Ms Palhares.

“On the available information it does not appear that the responding officers treated Mr Wall’s threats with sufficient seriousness, as they did not adequately document his disclosures or take other action to hold him accountable and protect Ms Palhares.”

Originally published as ‘Time bomb set to explode’: Girlfriend killer’s sadistic threats hours before murder