Coroner delivers inquest findings into Brontë Haskins’ death while on bail

A Canberra mum has revealed her heartache and frustration with a system she believes failed her daughter after a coronial inquest found no one to blame for her death.

Brontë Haskins died in February 2020 after being given bail. Picture: Contributed

The mother of a young Canberra woman who died while on bail has said she feels “underwhelmed” following the conclusion of her daughter’s coronial inquest and worries for families under similar circumstances.

Brontë Haskins died on February 21, 2020, three days after attempting suicide outside her former partner’s home while on supervision and bail conditions.

ACT Coroner James Stewart delivered his findings on March 8 and found no one was to be blamed for Ms Haskins’ death.

Court files show, as of February 2020, Ms Haskins was charged with three counts of driving while suspended, three counts of driving with a prescribed drug in her oral fluid and one count of failing to stop for a stop sign.

Ms Haskins was originally refused bail but was granted conditional release on February 13.

The 23-year-old sadly died more than a week later.

Janine Haskins said Coroner Stewart conducted a thorough inquest and had aspects of restorative reform however felt “disappointed” by the outcome.

“I worry for other families, their coronials are flying under the radar and not getting up,” Mrs Haskins said.

“These inquests are about families getting answers to reasonable questions, but we haven’t got those and we probably never will.”

Brontë Haskins. Picture: Instagram

Coroner Stewart made several recommendations following evidence and submissions given at a hearing.

His recommendations included the ACT Government be made aware on supervision levels to those given bail, for bail officers to be administered basic suicidality assessments and funding to be given for 48-hour bail assessment turnarounds.

The coroner also asked for the government to be made aware of his evidence and findings on the timing, manner and level of the Court Alcohol and Drug Assessment Service’s assessment and monitoring provided to Ms Haskins.

Several points of concern were raised in the inquest by Coroner Stewart, which included failure to report previous breaches of bail from failed drug tests, “overstretched resources” of bail supervisors and the lack of conditions on bail relating to Ms Haskins’ mental health.

Brontë Haskins and her mum Janine. Picture: Contributed

The coroner stated them in a long list of “lost” opportunities which also included not assessing whether Ms Haskins had fallen back into drug use and the lack of a follow up from mental health services due to Ms Haskins being incorrectly categorised.

Brontë’s mum said she wanted there to be accountability for these recommendations to be implemented and not “sit in a filing cabinet somewhere”.

“There needs to be a demand for them to be monitored and implemented,” she said.

“I’ve lost my daughter and she didn’t have to be lost.

“It felt like a lot of these departments don’t speak to each other and work in silos.”

Brontë Haskins loved animals. Picture: Contributed

Mrs Haskins criticised the handling of CCTV which contained the moments leading up to her daughter’s death outside her former partner’s home and how her daughter was incorrectly classified by mental health workers.

Coroner Stewart however found there was “no basis” for adverse comment on the circumstances of the footage.

Mrs Haskins said she still missed her daughter everyday, three years on from her death.

“She was a funny, gregarious prankster,” Mrs Haskins said.

“She was still playing pranks on us, we threw her ashes in one of her favourite places and they flew right back at us.

Brontë Haskins with her parents. Picture: Contributed

“We may have had a fractured relationship in her last two years but it didn’t mean I loved her any less.

“Our ‘Poppy’ is incredibly missed and is always at the front of my mind.”

Coroner Stewart made it clear in his findings he was not criticising government workers and police who came into contact with Ms Haskins but rather the issue of “resourcing”.

The coroner said in a comment he was “genuinely shocked” by the “under-resourcing” allowed for Ms Haskins’ supervision.

He further commented the resources allocated to bail supervision as of February 2020 were “inadequate” and “did not allow for an acceptable level of bail supervision”.

“The ‘hands off’ approach to supervising Brontë made her bail agreement little more than a paper tiger for the most part,” Coroner Stewart said.