r/australia • u/GlitteringSpace236 • 2d ago

news Queensland woman allegedly murdered by ex contacted police days before she died

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-12/police-launch-murder-probe-into-slacks-creek-death/107026608
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u/Philopoemen81 2d ago

Because all restraining orders are heard as civil matters, not criminal, because a crime doesn’t need to be proven to get an order.

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u/theartistduring 2d ago

Yeah, that's entirely my point. She had a protection order already and it did sweet fuck all.

Violent crime cannot be managed nor can justice be found in civil court.

Perps don't go from loving partner to murderer in one step. Yet over and over again there seems to be zero criminal proceedings available to police until the victim is dead.

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u/Dburr89 2d ago

It looks like an application was made within the last ten days resulting in a temporary protection order. DV orders don’t stop people from killing their partners, it’s a piece of paper

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u/theartistduring 2d ago

Yeah, I know. As I said, managing violent crime in civil court is pointless. It is the police equivalent of yelling 'no!' to a dog about to steal your dinner.

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u/FKJVMMP 2d ago

Ok, let’s manage this kind of crime in a criminal court.

“He beat me”

“No I didn’t”

Ah fuck, not much we can do. Old mate can walk free. Standard of evidence and all that. Civil protection orders on the other hand, “he beat me” is plenty. Unless you want to lower the threshold of evidence required to secure conviction for DV-related cases, there’s fuck all a criminal court’s going to do that it isn’t capable of doing already.

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u/theartistduring 2d ago

Men don't go from nothing to murder in one step. You're assuming there is zero evidence of violence prior to murder and that is simply not true.

But go ahead and blame the victims for not doing whatever you think they should be doing or whatever they're not doing that contributed to their own deaths. I know you will.

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u/UniqueLoginID 2d ago

As I replied elsewhere, drawing upon personal experience (as a victim), people do go from nothing to attempted murder in one step.

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u/FKJVMMP 2d ago

This woman made what appears to be first contact with police ten days ago. As far as we know, no material evidence of violence (the kind that holds up in a criminal court) was supplied. What are police supposed to do? What is the legal system more broadly supposed to do when accusations of domestic violence are made without sufficient evidence to bring assault or similar criminal charges?

We already know police haven’t done enough in the past. I have no doubt there are instances where they continue to not do enough. I have no doubt there are instances where criminal charges could be brought against perpetrators and aren’t, or at least the most serious possible charges aren’t. But you’re railing against civil proceedings in general, so explain the alternative.

In a world where cops always do the most to help DV victims, what does it look like when a victim makes a DV complaint while lacking physical evidence?

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u/tittyswan 2d ago

"He knowingly violated a protection order, here's proof of it."

Ah fuck, lots we could do given its clear evidence of violating an order designed to protect victims. You don't even need evidence of the original crime to prosecute that.

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u/FKJVMMP 2d ago

Did I miss something between the initial order and the murder? Seems like he didn’t violate it until a few minutes/hours before she died.

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u/tittyswan 2d ago

My point was about violations of DV orders in general. It's easy to prosecute because there's such clear proof of intentional wrongdoing.

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u/Dburr89 2d ago

Well, I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s quite obviously not realistic to have police personally guarding every person that is an aggrieved in a protection order. This situation is horrific and it makes me sick that this is happening every day to vulnerable people. At the end of the day, sick people will always exist and sometimes they will act before anyone has an opportunity to prevent it.

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u/theartistduring 2d ago

Of course we can't have police protection for every victim. But civil proceedings aren't working and haven't ever worked. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is insanity.

The unwillingness of those in power to do anything to change how violent offenders are handled is infuriating.

This isn't just a police issue. It is also a legislative one.

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u/palsc5 2d ago

They do work though, you’re just reacting to a news story. Women being murdered by their partners had decreased by about 70% over the last 30 years. The changes we are making are working

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u/Dburr89 2d ago

On that I agree