Northern Territory cops ‘too busy’ to do welfare check on murdered Aboriginal woman

A Darwin woman was found allegedly murdered by her partner — a man known to authorities for domestic violence — after police were ‘too busy’ to do a welfare check on her.

Police investigate the suspicious death of a woman in Malak. Picture: Jason Walls

Northern Territory police were too busy to conduct a welfare check on an Aboriginal woman nine hours before she was found allegedly murdered by her partner, who had been banned from contacting her for two decades.

Last Thursday, Desmond Frankie Booth – who was previously known to police for domestic violence – was charged with murdering his 43-year-old partner after she was found dead at a home in Darwin’s northern suburbs.

Sources have told The Australian police were “too busy” to ­attend the welfare check, which was requested by Territory Families at 3pm the day before her death, because of higher priority incidents.

It comes as Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who was sworn in on Wednesday morning, reinforces her pledge to get tough on crime, with community safety the “No 1” focus of her government.

Officers on the ground say the failure to conduct the check was a prime example of the dire resourcing issues police face every day.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro with Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley in Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

It can also be revealed that on August 2, a 20-year full non-­contact domestic violence order was taken out against Booth, who grew up in Alice Springs but had “little by way of a formal education”, to protect the woman.

Questions are being raised within the force as to why crucial details were withheld from the public when senior police were questioned by journalists as to when they were first notified of trouble at the woman’s home.

News agency AAP reported that on the Tuesday neighbours heard “yelling and fighting” inside a Darwin townhouse, and had contacted police. Police say they never received a call.

“We called police because we could hear her screaming, but they didn’t come too quick,” the neighbours told AAP.

“If they think we stole something, (police) are here like lightning, but when we say we (are) gonna die, they don’t show up.”

At a press conference on Wednesday last week, Detective Senior Sergeant Jon Beer from the major crime squad in Darwin did not disclose that Territory Families had asked for the welfare check to be undertaken, or that there was a 20-year domestic violence order between the couple. Booth has been charged with breaching the order.

Sergeant Beer was asked whether a relative or neighbours had made calls to emergency services “in the lead-up” to the woman’s death. “And no neighbours had made any calls to police asking for assistance?” a journalist asked.

“Not prior to that call (made by the woman’s stepdaughter) at 10 past 12,” Sergeant Beer said.

After a series of questions from The Australian, a spokesperson for the NT Police Force conceded late on Wednesday that “at least one report” was made to police in the afternoon prior. “This report, including the associated police response, now forms part of the coronial investigation,” they said.

The spokesperson declined to answer questions about when Territory Families requested a welfare check, why police did not respond and why police had earlier claimed the first call came at 12.10am.

Concerned police contacted The Australian dismayed by the apparent cover-up and failure by the top brass to disclose Territory Families’ referral to the public.

“I’m alarmed that this could happen in a jurisdiction that has just gone through four similar inquiries and committed to doing better,” one said. “Much more alarmed that with an alleged ­offender in custody and therefore no valid reason, ­absolutely critical details are being withheld from the public domain.

“Rank and file police who see this disconnect every day can’t understand why nobody is outraged, why society doesn’t seem to care for these women,” they said.

“This is where the PTSD epidemic in first responders is coming from, where men and women join to protect the innocent but in a jurisdiction as broken as the NT, frontline police face these impossible decisions about resources multiple times a day,” the officer said.

“They know they are letting people down and live in fear of outcome like this.

“You don’t want to think modern Australia is racist, but to speak plainly, if this was a white woman on the east coast, or a white ­offender anywhere, those at the top would be held accountable.”

The incident came as police from property crime strike force Trident and the Territory Response Group were this week ­ordered back into their uniforms to show a higher visibility in the streets.

Earlier this month, Territory police commissioner Michael Murphy resigned from the Police Association just days after having apologised to Aboriginal people of the Top End for decades of systemic racism within the force.

Detailed questions were sent on Wednesday morning to incoming Ms Finocchiaro, but no on-the-record response was received from the Chief Minister’s office.

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