He saved Shelsea Schilling from the Lizard Man Bronson Ellery once but she still died of domestic violence
A FORMER neighbour of Bronson Ellery — who killed ex-girlfriend Shelsea Schilling and then himself — has revealed saving her from a violent incident months prior.
Crime and Court
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A FORMER neighbour of Bronson Ellery — who killed ex-girlfriend Shelsea Schilling and then himself — has revealed saving her from a violent incident months prior.
But good samaritan Godfrey Brown didn’t notify police because he said a bad experience reporting domestic violence years earlier left him feeling it was pointless to do so.
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Eight months later in November, last year, Ellery — dubbed Lizard Man by police because of his full face tattoos — bashed and suffocated her to death at his rented Southport unit and then killed himself in an apparent murder-suicide.
Mr Brown, living beside ex-bikie Ellery in Surfers Paradise at the time of the earlier incident, recalled how loud shouting prompting him to go outside and break it up.
Mr Brown said Ms Schilling appeared to be fleeing and Ellery was dragging her back to his unit by her arm and clothes.
“I pulled him off. He went to shape up to me and then I shaped up back to him so he went inside.
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“I walked her down to the bus and watched her get on. She was shaking,” he said.
Mr Brown, who joined Ms Schilling’s friends and family at Norm Rix Park recently to honour her memory, said she had returned a few days after he intervened to give him flowers.
“She said ‘Thank you for the other day, you saved me from getting belted up’.”
Mr Brown said he didn’t alert police because he’d done so years earlier in relation to a separate domestic violence situation, claiming he was told there was nothing they could do unless they had evidence of violence occurring.
“The laws are too weak. What is the point?”
Miss Schilling had a domestic violence order against Ellery in September, 2015, but breached it within weeks and spent three months in jail.
Ellery left her parents a note apologising for her death before changing into a suit, putting on his favourite song and killing himself.