Stopping men on the way to murder

THESE are the serious domestic violence incidents you don’t hear about.

It’s because specialist policing by the Gold Coast Domestic and Family Violence Taskforce – turning two next month – is heading them off before they occur.

In one recent case, a serious violent offender released from prison immediately headed to the Coast, his last known reference for his ex.

His arrival breached orders requiring him not to go anywhere near the city. But he was hellbent on tracking down the mother of his kids and killing her – there is no doubt of that in the minds of police who intercepted him.

Taskforce detectives monitoring his release had redflagged him as a serious risk to his former partner.

He was released without restrictions but as Taskforce head Detective Inspector Marc Hogan says: “We know from past behaviour he’s extremely likely to seek retribution.

“Immediately he demonstrated this was going to be the case and he was taken into custody. He was intercepted on public transport when orders were he was not to go anywhere near the Gold Coast – and that is exactly where he was arrested.”

In another case earlier this year, a third party reported to police “grave concerns” for a woman believed to be in a “high-end violent environment” on the Coast.

Mr Hogan said the Taskforce had indirect contact made by a professional service which established she was isolated from family and friends – and “basically being held and unable to report any of the violence”.

“Police injected themselves. He was charged with serious criminal offences.”

The relationship was just a few months old.

“That one went bad early,” Mr Hogan remarks drily, and sadly points out the examples are not unusual scenarios.

“It happens all the time. We probably stopped two homicides there but you wouldn’t know about it.”

His team audit DV callouts attended by uniformed police, aiming to identify high risk cases. In other words, they are trying to spot the city’s DV ticking timebombs before they go off.

As Mr Hogan said a year ago, the work is “not impossible but difficult”. And they are getting better at it all the time.

The taskforce was started in January 2016, months after Tara Brown was brutally murdered on the roadside by ex Lionel Patea and Karina Lock was fatally shot by former husband Steven Lock at a McDonald’s restaurant in Helensvale. Their kill- ings occurred a day apart and Mr Hogan said his squad now takes it personally any time a domestic violence related death occurs.

“Our aim is to intercept potential Lionel Pateas and stop them from occurring,” he said.

“To do that you have to do everything else really well and that means dealing with the really little things.”

Mr Hogan said he can’t emphasise enough the importance of people reporting to police or agencies any incidents or concerns.

He says his team are a “learning organisation” and have become “very good listeners”.

They have acted on alerts from women reporting a suspicious phone call by a private number in the early hours to a gut feeling they are being watched by an ex.

“Two years in we know we have stopped deaths and a lot of harm in particular for women and children.”

WE PROBABLY STOPPED TWO HOMICIDES THERE — BUT YOU WOULDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT