An inquest into the domestic violence murder of Queensland woman Doreen Langham has heard she made numerous visits to police and told them she feared for her life in the week before she was killed.
Warning: This story contains graphic details that readers may find distressing.
The 49-year-old died in a unit fire at Browns Plains in February 2021 after her ex-partner, Gary Hely, set it alight with both of them inside.
A coroner on the Gold Coast this week heard Mr Hely had a domestic violence order (DVO) against him, a "significant" history of domestic violence interstate, and had breached his DVO numerous times in the weeks before the fire.
Ms Langham made numerous visits to three police stations and called police to her home several times to tell them her ex-partner had broken into her home, ejaculated on her sheets, made threats to her life and was harassing her via phone.
The inquest heard Ms Langham had also changed her number, car registration, locks, had added security measures to her home, sought help from a domestic violence service and yet no measure was enough to save her.
On the fourth day of the inquest at the Southport Magistrates Court today, the court heard from Senior Constable Matthew Down, who was working at the Browns Plains Police Station at the time.
He was one of 16 officers who had contact with Ms Langham in the days before she died.
He told the court that about 75 per cent of his general duties work was domestic violence-related.
Body-worn camera footage of Senior Constable Down and his partner visiting Ms Langham's address on February 16, 2021, less than a week before her murder, showed her telling police she had seen Mr Hely at her address that day after only changing her locks that morning.
"This is the fourth time he's been here since he's been served," she told the officers.
"I visited Logan Central (police station) Sunday morning, Browns Plains station Monday morning and Monday afternoon, and it's now Tuesday night.
"He was here for 40 minutes on Sunday night. I found a rose on my back table, my front door was unlocked.
When questioned about the interaction, Senior Constable Down said he did not take Ms Langham to be genuinely fearful by the conversation, nor that the nature of the breaches were serious and therefore did not act further.
"At this point, no, I thought he might have had a key to get in. I didn't think it was serious because he was leaving her roses. It didn't strike me as concerning at the time, no," he told the inquest.
State Coroner Jane Bentley asked why he and his partner made no further effort to locate or arrest Mr Hely, given the number of breaches and Ms Langham being in tears, fearing for her life.
Senior Constable Down said it was because Mr Hely had no fixed address and was not reachable by phone.
Ms Bentley: "No-one had made any effort to arrest him, so it just seems like no-one was intending to go arrest him.
"It didn't matter how many times she complained, there was going to be nothing done anyway … why didn't you make attempts to arrest him?"
Senior Constable Down: "I wanted to arrest him; it was a matter of locating him to arrest him. He had no fixed address, so we would need to look for his car.
"I didn't make any further enquiries … I couldn't tell you why.
"I think for me the way I interpreted it that night, the breaches, I didn't deem it as a job I had to take any further action than to what I would normally take to collect information and arrest the person."
Ms Bentley: "But that's the whole point, you collected information and you didn't arrest."
The inquest was then read an exchange between Senior Constable Down and the Queensland Police Ethical Standards Command, which questioned him after the murder about his interactions with Ms Langham.
Senior Constable Down was then questioned at the inquest about whether he felt the description was accurate given the body cam conversation with Ms Langham the court had been played.
"At the time, yes, I thought that, but obviously now, there's more I believe I could have done," he said.
"I have since seen [Mr Hely's] CrimTrack history; had I seen that on the night, I would have immediately taken extra action that night. It was quite significant."
Death caused by injury and fire
Today, the inquest also heard from specialist forensic pathologist Christopher Day, who detailed Ms Langham and Mr Hely's most likely causes of death.
He said Ms Langham likely died of a combination of the fire and an injury she sustained to her spleen beforehand.
"The injury to spleen was obvious … the injury appeared to be from sometime during life," Dr Day said.
"There was evidence of black soot inhalation, so she was alive at the time of the fire and may have been consumed by the fire.
Mr Hely died from the fire.
The inquest is expected to end on Friday.
