‘HORRIFIC’ DEATH
Son in custody after police find elderly woman’s body
POLICE probing the “horrific” death of an elderly woman at Woree have arrested her 43-year-old son as part of their investigation.
Young police officers stumbled across the dead body of a woman, 76, while investigating an unrelated crime report in the suburb early yesterday morning.
They found a ”horrific” scene and arrested the man after a struggle. Police have launched a major crime inquiry.
POLICE probing the “horrific” death of an elderly woman at Woree have arrested her 43year-old son as part of their investigation.
Police have launched a major inquiry into the death of a 76-year-old woman.
Officers stumbled upon the grisly scene early yesterday when investigating an unrelated incident involving a man in his 40s. He allegedly resisted arrest before being taken in to custody in relation to the woman’s death at the Windarra St property.
Some of the traumatised officers are being offered support as a major investigation into the violent death continues.
No charges had been laid as of last night.
Detective Inspector Jason Smith said several items had been seized from the home, all of which could potentially be the weapon involved.
“She has extensive injuries. She has considerable head injuries and there is evidence of blunt force trauma,” he said.
“A number of items have been seized, all of which could have been used in this dreadful (incident).”
He said the woman was known to still be alive the night before and police were trying to piece together a 12-hour window before her body was found about 6am yesterday, calling on anyone with information to come forward.
Police ruled out illicit drug use as a potential factor but said determining the mental state of the man would be part of the ongoing inquiry.
“It’s all part of the inquiries; definitely as part of our investigation we will be looking at the history between these two parties, as well as anything that could have contributed to this horrible death,” Det Insp Smith said.
The woman’s Windarra St neighbour, Charmaine Falla, was shocked to hear of the death.
“It’s amazing – I never thought it would have happened to her,” she said.
Ms Falla said the elderly woman had always been friendly when putting out the garbage on bin night but generally kept to herself.
“Everything is usually quite quiet over there,” she said.
The home was declared a crime scene yesterday before forensic and scientific officers arrived to investigate.
Cairns police would like to speak to anyone who may have visited the Windarra St home in the past week.