Inquest investigates final hours before fatal DV fire that killed Ayr’s Florrie Reuben
During the inquest into a fatal fire, a barrister submitted that two constables could not have prevented the horrific actions of the man who set the blaze that killed his girlfriend.
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A coroner will not criticise the conduct of the two officers who attended a house only hours before a fatal fire was lit by a man which killed his girlfriend.
On day three of the inquest into the death of Florrie ‘Kory’ Reuben, barrister Sarah Lane made her final submissions to Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher.
She highlighted three areas which were the subject of the inquest; if police response throughout the couple’s relationship was in line with policy and procedures, if appropriate actions were taken by officers on the night of the fire and whether Queensland Police Services (QPS) had made appropriate changes to training.
Ms Lane submitted that there was nothing which could have been done by Constable Monica Stafford and Constable Ethan Shields on the night of August 9, 2022 which would have prevented the fatal fire and no misconduct had been identified.
“Senior Sergeant (Nathan) McCormack stated that overall the response by the officers was less than optimal, and that it could have been better, but he considered that the officers had tried their best during the incident – which had a dynamic nature,” he said.
“He said in hindsight there were missed opportunities to take Ms Reuben to a place of safety and to properly establish the history between the two and that the officers should not have been influenced by Ms Reuben’s views when she insisted there was no domestic violence.”
Since the incident, both officers had undergone extensive face-to-face training and were now armed with the tools to better deal with domestic and family violence situations.
Deputy State Coroner Gallagher said the officers only had minutes to respond to a call of threatened suicide that tragic night and she would not criticise them for their actions.
During that time constable Stafford had taken the opportunity to tell Constable Shields, who had only been sworn in for two months, what would happen if they found someone hanging.
“We have spent nearly three years looking at this collectively through police and crime investigation and certainly it has become a matter that is a domestic violence matter … but that’s not what these officers faced, in my view. ,” she said.
“I also keep in mind the fact that they had no opportunity in attending an urgent threat of self harm to conduct any meaningful review of the history between the parties.”
Ms Lane said her honour should also find that police response throughout the couple’s relationship was in line with QPS policy and procedure despite some “shortcomings and missed opportunities”.
“Generally, police officers conducted the relevant investigations in accordance with relevant legislations and procedures,” she said.
The court heard the QPS had also implemented effective training in a fundamental shift to a holistic approach which prioritised victim-centric and trauma informed policing.
Her honour will publish the rest of her recommendations following consultation with multiple police departments.
The recommendations will focus on mechanisms to promote people to come forward if they witness DV and programs which may provide police with a quick snapshot of a perpetrator’s entire DV history.
Day two
Police missed numerous chances to protect a woman from domestic violence before she was murdered by her partner in a house fire, a coroner’s court has heard.
The inquest into the death of Florrie ‘Kory’ Reuben, who suffered fatal burns to 97 per cent of her body, entered its second day on Wednesday.
Ms Reuben died after her partner, Isei Navutovuto, set fire to their home in Ayr, Queensland.
Inspector Melissa Dwyer, from the Queensland Domestic, Family Violence and Vulnerable Persons Unit, told the court police had been involved with the couple for years before Ms Reuben’s death.
The first police interaction occurred four years earlier, when a family member reported that Mr Navutovuto had slapped her at a family gathering.
Two months later, police were called again after Mr Navutovuto allegedly tore Ms Reuben’s shirt in public and took her wallet.
A domestic violence order (DVO) was issued, requiring him to be of good behaviour towards Ms Reuben for five years.
Between 2019 and 2022, police responded to 12 further incidents involving the couple.
Inspector Dwyer said officers repeatedly failed to act decisively on all occasions.
She said there were “missed opportunities” at every stage, citing failures including not strengthening the DVO, not taking statements from witnesses, failing to follow up when alcohol was involved, and not correctly labelling incidents in the police system — errors that obscured the escalating pattern of abuse.
In October 2020, Mr Navutovuto also assaulted Ms Reuben’s sister, pinning her against a wall by the throat and hitting her with a guitar.
Police did not classify the incident as domestic violence, and no steps were taken to ensure the sister’s protection.
Inspector Dwyer said in January 2021, Mr Navutovuto violently assaulted a man on the street which should have raised concerns.
“The report is a witness has taken it upon himself to chastise (Mr Navutovuto) about the way in which he speaks to his wife, that in and of itself, should have sparked curiosity as to what sat behind that, and to understand if there is a domestic and family violence incident that has occurred here,” Inspector Dwyer said.
Police use a Domestic Violence Protective Assessment Framework (DVPAF) to assess risk during incidents, ranking them as unknown, medium, high, or extreme.
Inspector Dwyer criticised the decision by officers who attended the couple’s home on August 9, just hours before the fatal fire, to classify the risk as ‘unknown’.
“The matter appears to be considered in the context of a single incident,” Inspector Dwyer said.
“Had we looked back in time we would have seen that this person has had a six month probation order for violent offences.”
“The officer, in my view, either did consider it and misunderstood what the system was indicating to them or they did not consider all of this information in the context of what had happened on this occasion.”
Day one
A police officer who went to arrest a man but decided against it only hours before he set a fatal fire and killed his girlfriend says she stands by her decision to leave the couple at the property together, a court has heard.
The inquest into the death of Florrie ‘Kory’ Reuben began on Tuesday, July 8, in the Coroners Court, after she was killed by her partner Isei Navutovuto in 2022.
Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan McCormack from the Ethical Standards Command said on the night of August 9, Ms Reuben had called police because she was worried her partner had gone into their back shed to commit suicide.
A female constable and a male constable attended the scene and found Mr Navutovuto asleep in the shed, unharmed.
The officers then rang paramedics to complete a mental health assessment while they talked to the couple separately.
The mental health assessment found “there was no grounds” to take Mr Navutovuto from the home, Detective McCormack said.
The court heard Mr Navutovuto was known to police at that time and had a prior domestic violence conviction and a domestic violence order (DVO) was in place which required him to be of good behaviour to Ms Reuben and not commit any further DV offences.
Detective McCormack said the more senior officer had attempted to arrest Mr Navutovuto when she heard him tell Ms Reuben she had a “pushy mouth”, which may have violated the good behaviour condition of the DVO, but had ultimately changed her mind.
The officers later left the scene, after discussions with Mr Navutovuto that he would sleep in the shed.
Only 45 minutes later, reports of a house fire at the same address came through.
Detective McCormack said one of the neighbours heard a male voice say “f---k this” and then he saw flames coming out of the house followed by female screaming.
“(The neighbour) kicked out the front door and ran inside the house, it was engulfed at this time,” he said.
“He saw Mr Navutovuto up to about two metres in front of him and his clothes were melted on his body.”
The neighbour recalled smelling petrol as he followed Mr Navutovuto outside and administered first aid.
Other neighbours at the front of the house said they saw Ms Reuben come out of the front door of the house and say “he’s trying to kill me”.
They administered first aid but she later died in hospital after suffering burns to 97 per cent of her body.
Mr Navutovuto was transported to Brisbane, where he died 20 days later due to organ failure caused by burns to 45 per cent of his body.
The investigation found two fires had been set within the house using petrol as an accelerant.
The court heard if he had survived Mr Navutovuto would have been charged with the homicide of Ms Reuben.
Detective McCormack said in the lead up to the fatal fire, Ms Reuben told her cousin of one instance where Mr Navutovuto had followed her around the house holding a jerry can of fuel and a lighter and said he would set the house on fire with her inside.
While his investigation found there was no misconduct by QAS and QPS, Detective McCormack said the actions by the initial police responders was “less than optimal”.
‘ … at the time I thought that domestic violence hadn’t happened’ – Constable on scene
Constable Monica Stafford, the female constable who attended the call that night told the inquiry she had extensive experience with DV-related calls in Ayr, but had grown frustrated during the interactions with the intoxicated couple that night.
She said there were considerations she could have made towards Ms Reuben’s relationship with police, Mr Navutovuto’s comments towards his partner and cultural and language barriers which could have improved her investigation, however at the time she had minimal training to deal with the situation.
The court heard she changed her mind about making the arrest over the ‘pushy mouth’ comment because she believed him telling her to shut her mouth didn’t constitute a contravention of a DVO.
“To this day I don’t think ‘shut your mouth’ is sufficient enough for a domestic violence breach,” Constable Stafford said.
“I don’t think there were any concerns for safety.
“Ultimately at the end of the day, at the time I thought that domestic violence hadn’t happened.”
The constable told the court she was focused on finding a resolution and making Ms Reuben comfortable but if she were to go back to that night she would have questioned Mr Navutovuto more.
After watching her own body cam footage over the weekend, the constable said she “absolutely” thought the job could’ve been handled differently, and was close to tears.
“I think I had an isolated view of what I was going to, I didn’t allow other things to be brought up by Ms Reuben,” she said.
“Unfortunately we go to a lot of very complex family violence matters as police … and you have the same outcome where you feel like you’re stuck and can’t resolve the matter.”
The female constable said she’d come straight from a separate DV job that night to attend the welfare check on Mr Navutovuto.
“There was a lot on my mind, I could see that in my body worn (footage) as well,” she said.
“It’s obviously every officer’s worst nightmare … any job can turn into a coronial inquest at the end of the day.”
The constable said in hindsight she should’ve also spoken to Mr Navutovuto separately, rather than leaving him entirely to the new academy graduate who was shadowing her that night.
“But again, I don’t think any other action could’ve been taken (that night),” she said.
The academy graduate: ‘Domestic violence occurs in front of us’
The constable with her was a new academy graduate who’d only been on the force for two months.
The graduate, Constable Ethan Shields, admitted he did not know threatening suicide was a common form of domestic violence, and only had a three-day course on DV under his belt, and absolutely not training on mental health at the time.
The graduate said on the way to the job he and the female constable discussed in the car what they’d do if they found Mr Navutovuto “hanging”.
“We were the only crew on night shift in Ayr, as is usual,” Constable Shields said.
When they got to the property to conduct the welfare check, he was sent into the shed alone with a torch to find the man – or his body.
Mr Navutovuto was located sleeping on the floor.
Constable Shields said while talking to Mr Navutovuto he ran several checks on his ‘QLiTE’ device and discovered there was a domestic violence order between Mr Navutovuto and Ms Reuben which required the man to be on “good behaviour” towards the woman.
“Did you consider the threat to commit suicide was a form of domestic violence?” he was asked by the bar table.
“At that point I did not consider that,” he said.
“I believe I had tunnel vision towards mental health… I hadn’t really been exposed to that element of domestic violence.”
The graduate constable said now looking back on his body worn footage, he could see multiple signs of domestic violence, such as coercive behaviour, financial control, the threat of suicide, and Mr Navutovuto “putting down the image” of Ms Reuben and “trying to boost his own image” in front of the officers.
“I can say with hindsight there were indicators of DV,” he said.
“There is a definite moment in there where domestic violence does occur in front of us … the respondent uses some derogatory language in the presence of us.… in hindsight this was an act we could’ve arrested him on.”
The graduate constable said there were “factors” that stopped this arrest from happening.
“I was certainly not in a position to be dictating events that occurred during an investigation,” he said.
“At that point in your career as a first-year-constable, your decision making is limited, you go off the guide of your field training officer.”
When questioned by the inquiry, the graduate constable said during his two months on the job he’d only ever shadowed other constables – not senior constables or sergeants.
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