‘Shit area, shit house’: Queensland police officer allegedly told not to waste time investigating woman’s death, inquiry hears

The commission of inquiry into Queensland police responses to domestic and family violence heard police dismissed an investigation into a woman’s death. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

A senior Queensland police officer reportedly told a co-worker that police did not investigate the suspicious death of a domestic violence victim because she and her husband were a “a pair of scumbags who live in a shit area in a shit house”, an inquiry has heard.

At the commission of inquiry into Queensland police responses to domestic violence on Wednesday, Mark Ainsworth, a consultant and former police officer, revealed a female officer recounted the story during a survey he undertook of 53 police officers across the state. Ainsworth was commissioned as a “contract investigator” by the inquiry to examine whether any cultural issues within Queensland police were affecting domestic violence investigations.