Inquest into Dr Karen Mahlo's death to be re-examined after suicide ruling questioned
There has been a stunning development in The Courier-Mail’s six-month investigation into the mysterious death of a loved mum and respected doctor.
State Coroner Terry Ryan has ordered the inquest into the death of Dr Karen Mahlo to be reopened to re-examine the finding, following a renewed push about inconsistencies in the case.
Dr Mahlo, 52, was found with a kitchen knife embedded in her chest. Her ex-partner John Hehir found her in her Moffat Beach home on the Sunshine Coast. Within hours police had ruled it a suicide.
INTERACTIVE: WALK THE DEATH SCENE WITH THIS 3D RECREATION
An investigation by The Sunday Mail raised major inconsistencies in the evidence casting doubt over what happened to the loving mother of two.
Suicide notes allegedly written by the doctor, to her children and her ex-partner, were found in the home after her death on May 28, 2008.
A USB plugged into her computer, minutes before the suicide notes were created, disappeared from the home.
Years later, investigators established Mr Hehir had used the USB in his own computer months after her death. It was never found.
Dr Mahlo’s family and friends never believed she killed herself.
Dr Mahlo’s family and experts have argued an inquest into her death should be reopened, forcing police to reinvestigate, with the original finding of suicide set aside, arguing there is not enough proof she took her own life.
No body core temperature was recorded at the scene; there was no evidence provided of death scene mapping, of scrapings for DNA analysis from Dr Mahlo’s fingernails, or testing for blood around the home, such as around taps or sinks.
There is no references to any documented testing of Mr Hehir’s clothes, vehicle or home.
The knife found in Dr Mahlo’s chest was not examined for prints until five days after her body was found; no DNA was detected on the knife and there has been no evidence provided of tape lifts for DNA were conducted on other items around the bed.
The computer, bedspread and linen were not seized and, while a scenes of crime officer took photos and inspected blood stains, a scientific officer conducting a blood stain analysis was later unable to classify the bloodstains, or what objects made them.
Police that day wrote a report saying they believed she took her own life, before an autopsy was conducted, or before the chef’s knife was forensically examined.
On the morning she was found, Dr Mahlo’s phone called Mr Hehir’s phone at 3.06am, but the call went to a message bank.
Mr Hehir told police he woke up about 4.30am, at his newly rented home at Cotton Tree, saw the missed call and made multiple attempts to reach his ex partner over the phone.
The pair had argued the day before outside her house. Dr Mahlo told family she was relieved to have Mr Hehir out of her life, after signing over a jointly owned motorcycle to him.
He told police he drove to Dr Mahlo’s house on the morning he found her dead, worried about her after a previous pill overdose suicide attempt on April 11 where she was flown to Brisbane for emergency care.
He said the doors were open to the home and he found her upstairs in her room about 5am, with police coming within about half an hour.
While expressing concerns over other parts of his testimony, the coroner found phone tower location records backed up Mr Hehir’s account of his movements that morning, while he drove to her home.
When police arrived they found two unsigned suicide notes printed from the computer, one of which was to her two children Anastasia and Ben. The other was addressed to Mr Hehir asking him to look after the children when needed.
Within three-and-a-half hours Dr Mahlo’s body was moved to the morgue and by the end of the day police paperwork was completed, appearing to write the death off as a suicide, before an autopsy had taken place.
It later emerged that Mr Hehir, who had moved out of the Moffat Beach home weeks earlier, went back inside her home that same day after police dropped him off.
It was also revealed a USB was plugged into Dr Mahlo’s computer at 2.45am, about two hours before she was found dead.
Minutes later, the two suicide notes were written and printed.
The USB was titled “John’s USB” and disappeared from the home.
Examining aspects of her death, forensic psychiatrist Dr Russ Scott and forensic pathologist Dr Allan Cala have argued familiar features of suicide were identified by investigators early, which included no signs of a forced entry and the discovery of suicide notes.
They have argued in a journal article that the evidence collected, including autopsy results, does not support a finding of suicide.
Apart from a lack of police forensic work, and evidence they say does not satisfy a ruling of suicide, the experts have also raised:
– the highly unusual method of suicide, with the most common by medical practitioners and women generally by deliberate overdose
– that she would use a hiltless knife to stab herself through her clothing into her chest
– A medical practitioner would know that a horizontal stab wound between the ribs, over the heart, would be the most effective method of suicide by self-stabbing.
– She was intoxicated and had therapeutic amounts of her medication in her body
– the chest wound had three tracks (suggesting the knife had been manipulated twice), with the first track needing “severe force” to go through the sternum
– Dr Mahlo was left-handed so the injuries to her right hand palm and thumb were “more likely” to be defensive wounds. A police and pathology perspective that her right-hand injuries were from stabbing herself were “inconsistent” with being left-handed.
– an abrasion to her chin, submucosal bleeding on the lips and the bruising to the back of the left hand and right thigh were also consistent with a struggle, which was not explored
Dr Scott and Dr Cala argued the lack of police work raised questions if a suicide ruling was “reasonably supported by the evidence and whether, in the interests of justice, another inquest into the death of Dr Karen Mahlo should be held.”
Family friend and colleague Des Mulcahy wrote to the coroner asking for the matter to be set aside months ago and was on Monday told the matter would be reopened.
“Coroner Christine Clements concluded that Dr Mahlo intended to cause her own death,” Mr Ryan wrote.
“Coroner Clements found that Dr Mahlo had left notes for her children and for her former de facto partner, Mr Hehir.
“She had struggled to recover from her illness and to re-establish her medical career.
“However, at the time of her death, her family, friends and treating doctors had seen a significant improvement in her mental wellbeing.
“Your application was founded upon the draft of an article written by Dr Scott and Dr Cala.
“You have submitted that the article contains materials and expert opinion that “cast significant [doubt] on the 2014 finding of Coroner Clements” and that the finding could not reasonably be supported by the evidence,” Mr Ryan said.
Mr Ryan wrote that he had decided under s 50A of the Coroners Act that it was in the public interest to reopen the inquest to re-examine the finding in relation to Dr Mahlo’s death.
“In doing so, I have not reached any conclusion about whether the article written by Dr Scott and Dr Cala contains new evidence that casts doubt on the finding,” Mr Ryan wrote.
“In addition, I have no jurisdiction to determine whether the finding could not reasonably be supported by the evidence.
“That is a matter for the District Court.
“I have directed Coroner Donald MacKenzie to take carriage of the investigation.
“Coroner MacKenzie will determine whether it is in the public interest to hold a new inquest.”
Dr Mahlo’s children Ben and Anastasia Sasonow said the decision was positive.
“It’s good that they are finally going to have a proper look at it again,” Ben said on Monday.
Anastasia said: “Hopefully the people who look at it do their due diligence and care.”
Originally published as Inquest into Dr Karen Mahlo's death to be re-examined after suicide ruling questioned
