Samantha Schulte shares statement on day four of John Schulte death inquest

A victim of relentless domestic abuse, a North Queensland woman says it took the suicide death of her husband “to have her voice heard”.

Samantha Schulte went to the Queensland Police Service as a “last resort” to report her husband’s relentless abuse – but instead of getting help, she was left questioning her survival.

Ms Schulte shared her emotional and searing condemnation of the QPS on day four of the coronial inquest into the suicide death of her former husband, John Fredrick Schulte.

Ms Schulte told the courtroom – where two current assistant QPS commissioners were present – of the trauma she and her children faced as a result of police inaction.

“I am disappointed, to say the very least, that it took death and these subsequent coronial proceedings to have my voice heard,” Ms Schulte said.

After making three reports detailing her husband’s threats to shoot her and himself, his declining mental health, and concerns for the safety of her children, Ms Schulte pleaded for help.

John Fredrick Schulte inquest wraps up in Townsville after four days.

But it would never come.

Mr Schulte died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a police siege on Christmas Day, 2018 – which Ms Schulte described as his “final act” of domestic violence.

The abuse, Ms Schulte said, was likened to Chinese water torture: a prolonged process which deteriorated her mentally and emotionally.

“When John ended our marriage, I hoped I was finally relinquished – however these hopes quickly became acceptance that the days of my life were quickly approaching an end,” she said.

Yet the fear she held for her own life was not alleviated by her reports to police.

“When I had contacted them, it was not my first port of call, it was my last resort,” she said.

Events reached boiling point on Christmas Eve, when Mr Schulte threatened to take her children.

And again her detailed descriptions of the abuse were dismissed by a female domestic violence liaison officer, who told Ms Schulte her children would be given to the Department of Child Safety.

John Fredrick Schulte died from a single gunshot wound on Christmas Day 2018 after a police siege on his Oonoonba home. His then wife, Samantha Schulte had made three reports to police about his abusive behaviour before his death.

“The QPS did not see my children as victims in their own right … I felt as though I was forced to choose between the lesser of two evils,” she said.

“In the end, I chose better the devil I knew.”

She said the officer’s words to her: “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”, was an act of misogyny.

In her darkest moments, Ms Schulte wondered what could have compelled them to act and potentially avoid the incident.

“ … I thought if I could have ripped open my heart and mind there would have been gaping wounds,” she said through tears.

“I often wonder if I could have shown these deep wounds, would the QPS have considered my children and I more deserving of help and protection …”.

The inquest findings will be handed down at a later date.

Originally published as Samantha Schulte shares statement on day four of John Schulte death inquest