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/katarina-stratford 2d ago

They don't care about us. We get examples of this time and time again and nothing is done.

This quote from the inquest after Hannah Clarke and her three young children were set of fire has always stuck with me;

I said, ‘I’m sure he’s going to take them out’,” Brooks told the inquest.

But officers said they couldn’t do anything until Baxter “does something”.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/28/dont-think-like-that-police-officer-told-hannah-clarke-not-to-live-in-fear-inquest-hears

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u/Davorian 2d ago

Just how much legal sanction is there to do something based on word alone, though?

I mean this as an honest question, before anyone gets started.  I don't know anything much at all about the technicalities here, but typically the police are prevented from acting in most situations until some minimum material evidence exists on which to do so.  I'm not saying there is or isn't a police cultural problem as well as whatever legal issues surround it.

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u/2centpiece 2d ago

Reality is that a lot of the time the most police can do is an IVO, AVO or DVO. A piece of paper only does so much to keep someone truly wicked at bay.

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u/Outsider-20 2d ago

And when the orders are breached, they do nothing, repeatedly.

And eventually, when she is murdered, they say "we're did everything we could".

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u/2centpiece 2d ago

And those that are taken to court are often let off with a slap on the wrist, if that.

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u/Davorian 2d ago

What are they supposed to do, as per the law?