A teenage girl found dead in a toilet block in Queanbeyan had an abusive ex-boyfriend who had threatened to kill her, but a coroner has found that she died by suicide.
Charli Powell was a popular 17-year-old of Wiradjuri descent "who loved to laugh", New South Wales Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame said in her findings, handed down on Friday.
Her report found Ms Powell killed herself on February 11, 2019, after she had suffered a violent, abusive relationship with her partner, Rohan Rosewarne.
Throughout the coronial inquest, Ms Powell's family said they did not believe she had killed herself.
The inquest heard Mr Rosewarne had repeatedly threatened his girlfriend with violence, texting her:
"I swear to God, you slut around on me, I'll stab ya in ya throat."
He had also called and texted her in "intrusive and intimidating" ways, recorded her name in his phone as "slut", and allegedly pushed her to the ground, breaking her rib.
Mr Rosewarne denied he was physically violent, instead saying his relationship with Ms Powell was "toxic".
However, Magistrate Grahame found the weight of evidence suggested he had threatened his girlfriend and was physically violent to her.
"In my view, that violence would have been a stressor for her and is likely to have contributed to her state of mind around the time of her death," she said.
"Her death may well have been an impulsive act, but she had been subjected to significant verbal and physical abuse in the months before she took her own life."
In her final text message to Mr Rosewarne, Ms Powell told him she intended to leave him.
She said she would tell others he was "a woman basher and a liar and a cheater and most of all a user".
Boyfriend gave 'various accounts' of final night
Ms Powell had been alone with Mr Rosewarne in his home in the Queanbeyan suburb of Crestwood on the night before her death.
Magistrate Grahame noted it was difficult to conclude what happened between them because Mr Rosewarne provided "various accounts" of the night.
He said he and Ms Powell had a disagreement about 3am.
She called him twice soon afterwards, he said, and told him she was at a toilet block and was going to kill herself.
His phone records showed he then called his girlfriend 10 times, and the longest call lasted seven minutes.
The court heard Mr Rosewarne got on a bike and eventually found Ms Powell unresponsive in a toilet block at a nearby oval.
He said he tried to administer CPR before he knocked on the door of a nearby house, whose resident later gave evidence that Mr Rosewarne appeared to be in shock and "genuine grief".
It was about then that Mr Rosewarne called triple-0.
Police did not question partner's account of death
NSW Police Senior Constable Emma Tubman — who arrived at the area after paramedics — told the inquest she could not recall her first conversation with Mr Rosewarne.
However, she realised she knew him and recalled there was a warrant for his arrest.
Senior Constable Tubman told the inquest she did not ask him about the warrant and chose not to arrest him as he was "extremely upset".
"Due to his state, I said: 'Go home, have a cup of tea, coffee, get physically sorted out and then come back to the police station,'" she said.
However, Mr Rosewarne did not attend the station, and was only questioned about Ms Powell's death more than eight months later, when he was in custody for another matter.
Magistrate Grahame said an earlier police interview might have produced a clearer picture of Ms Powell's death.
NSW Police conceded it was unprepared to interview Mr Rosewarne about Ms Powell on that later date, and told the inquest it did not challenge his account of her death.
'Wonderful young woman' deserved better, says coroner
Magistrate Grahame said her finding that the teenager had killed herself relied heavily on a post-mortem examination.
That examination found no evidence of defensive wounds and supported the likelihood that Ms Powell's death was self-inflicted.
She made one recommendation: that her report be sent to the coroners court's domestic violence review team.
"I understand that Charli's family will be disappointed, and possibly angered, by [the finding of suicide], and I am sorry to exacerbate the grief they are already suffering," Magistrate Grahame said.
"I offer my sincere condolences to those who loved Charli. She was, by all accounts, a wonderful young woman who should have had the chance to live and experience life fully.
"Her death, at just 17 years of age, is a terrible tragedy."
