New South Wales police visited the home where a convicted triple killer was living with two foster children in February – nearly a month before the woman was removed from the address.
The revelation comes after the state government was forced to apologise for not acting until this week, despite a report warning them of the situation in December.
The NSW minister for families and communities, Kate Washington, told 2GB radio on Wednesday morning that Regina Arthurell had been removed from a home where she had been living with foster children aged 12 and 14 on Monday, after the radio station revealed the situation that same day.
“It is entirely unacceptable for a vulnerable child in the care of the state to be living with a triple [killer]. It should never have happened and I’m deeply apologetic for what has happened,” she said. It has since emerged that police attended the address on a callout last month when Arthurell was not present.
Washington, who has announced an urgent review, revealed her department had been made aware of the situation in late December, but confirmed that Arthurell had not been removed from the children until Monday.
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She said she was concerned by a report from a 2GB caller, who identified herself as the daughter of the woman Arthurell had been living with, who said she had also alerted NSW police and Corrective Services this year after attempts to warn government departments last year were unsuccessful.
In response to questions from Guardian Australia about whether they had been contacted regarding Arthurell, a spokesperson for NSW police said officers had attended the address where Arthurell was living in February for “a domestic related incident, not involving the person named”.
They said Arthurell was not present at the time, but declined to comment on whether they knew she was living at the address, or whether they raised any alarms with the Department of Communities and Justice.
“Police have been unable to locate any other reports. The living situation is not a police matter and [police] are unable to comment.”
In the incident on 11 February, officers attended the home in northwest Sydney at 8.30pm “following reports of a domestic violence related incident”. They spoke to two men, aged 44 and 33, who had been arguing.
The younger man was taken to Blacktown police station before later being released. No charges have been laid. Washington and the NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, were contacted for comment.
Arthurell, who is transgender, was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and one count of murder over three killings carried out before she transitioned. They include manslaughter convictions for the stabbing to death of her stepfather in 1974, and the killing of a 19-year-old in a robbery in the Northern Territory in 1981.
While on parole for manslaughter in 1995, Arthurell bludgeoned to death her former partner Venet Raylee Mulhall at her Coonabarabran home in the NSW central west, and was sentenced to 24 years in prison for murder, before being released in November 2020 and placed on an extended supervision order (ESO).
At a hearing in 2021, a supreme court justice said Arthurell was making sincere efforts at rehabilitation but had a “proclivity to violently terminate the lives of fellow human beings”.
“It would appear that there have been multiple system failures that have led us to this point,” Washington said.
Washington said there were “complexities” in the situation that she couldn’t share publicly to protect the privacy of the children. She said a review would look into “the decision-making that led to this terrible decision”.
At budget estimates on Wednesday, the NSW attorney general, Michael Daley, was asked why his department had not extended the ESO for Arthurell after it expired in December 2024.
“There’s a high risk offenders assessment committee which is chaired by the commissioner for Corrective Services, and it did not refer Ms Arthurell to the attorney general for consideration for further application under the act,” he said.
A spokesperson for Corrective Services said it could not comment on individual offenders’ circumstances or phone conversations between staff and members of the public.
“High risk offenders are considered by comprehensive, multi-agency committees that include representatives from NSW police, CSNSW and Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health,” they said.
Additional reporting by AAP
