A police officer has broken down in court over the deaths of four young children in a 2019 car crash in Queensland after testifying about his dealings with their mother in the months prior.
An inquest is examining the cause of a collision on the Bunya Highway at Kumbia in May, which killed two boys and two girls, all aged six and under, and their mother, Charmaine McLeod.
A coroner will also probe a number of allegations made by Ms McLeod, 35, against her ex-husband James McLeod which she penned in a note found at the scene.
On Monday, Detective Senior Constable Morris Cottrell testified about his early 2019 investigation into complaints Ms McLeod made about being raped by Mr McLeod on a number of occasions in the years prior.
The court heard as part of his investigation, he interviewed a friend of Ms McLeod who called the mother a liar who "twisted stories" and expressed she did not think the allegations were true.
He also spoke with Ms McLeod's sister and Mr McLeod, who adamantly denied the allegations, and had reviewed her lengthy medical records in relation to her severe mental health conditions.
The court heard he also arranged for Ms McLeod to make a pretext phone call to Mr McLeod in which he continued to deny he had forced her to have sex at any time.
In the call he said: "I really cared about you … and I jumped at the chance to marry you".
Ultimately Senior Constable Cottrell determined the allegations to be unsubstantiated and Mr McLeod has never been charged in relation to Ms McLeod or their children.
When questioned about whether her diagnoses and symptoms led to this decision, he told the court someone with complex mental health conditions was "fully capable of being raped", but in this case, there was insufficient evidence.
Becoming emotional on the stand, Senior Constable Cottrell said he was subpoenaed to give evidence but "would have come in my own time and at my own expense" because of "four reasons".
Through tears, he then named the full names of the children who died.
'Ultimate conclusion' crash was intentional in 'retaliation'
Last Friday, photographs of several pages of the handwritten note found in Ms McLeod's purse were shown to the court and were described as becoming "a little bit more disjointed ... and a little less continuous" towards the end.
Some of the note said: "I finally had the courage to stand and report my abusive husband" and went on to reference her being raped and her children "abused and two of them molested".
It also said: "Blame the courts, not enough support for DV victims and kids".
The inquest heard the detective handling the case for the coroner had come to an "ultimate conclusion" that Ms McLeod intentionally caused the crash in "retaliation against Mr McLeod and the family court".
Detective Senior Constable Lisa O'Leary agreed the note had played a "major role" in her decision.
When being questioned by Ms McLeod's family lawyer, she was asked if she believed the mother felt "hopeless" before she died.
She was also asked if she was aware Ms McLeod had made future plans, including enrolling her children in a new school, and she answered "no" to both.
During her evidence, Senior Constable O'Leary told the court she had concluded before her death Ms McLeod would regularly discontinue engaging with support services "when she wasn't hearing what she wanted to hear".
"I think Charmaine exhausted a lot of people ... So she would have to move on to someone else to give her the help she needed," she said.
Timeline leading up to crash
A timeline of the hours leading up to the crash was also laid out for the court and began with Ms McLeod checking out of short-term domestic violence accommodation about 11:20am.
At 2:00pm she took herself and her children to a women's refuge, where she would eventually leave all of their personal belongings later that day.
While there, the court heard Ms McLeod exchanged several emails with her lawyers, with the last response sent by her just after 6:00pm.
Around this time she was last sighted at the shelter, then at about 6:50pm, her car was captured on CCTV driving through Kingaroy.
Blurry screenshots of this vision were shown to the court.
She then exchanged messages with a man who she had met on a dating app, but the court heard it is not clear if she was driving at this time or had stopped.
At 7:30pm, the court heard Ms McLeod had overtaken a truck on the highway, but the driver said in a statement there was "nothing unusual and reckless" about this manoeuvre.
Shortly after this, that same driver witnessed the crash a few hundred metres in front of him.
The driver involved in the collision also said in a statement that he "had no time to react or brake".
Ms McLeod and her four children all suffered life-threatening trauma consistent with a high-velocity impact, the court heard.
The inquest continues.
