Second officer did not see pistol: Inquest

THE partner of a policeman who gunned down a man in a north Brisbane back yard has told a coroner he did not see a replica pistol as it was "cleared" from the injured man's body.

Protheroe, 36, died after being shot multiple times by plain clothes Constable Thomas Hess in the Bracken Ridge back yard of Krystal Sinn's home on April 17.

Constable Hess and partner detective Senior-Constable Troy Weston wanted to speak with Protheroe in relation to outstanding charges before the shooting at Ivor St.

Sen-Constable Weston told State Coroner Michael Barnes yesterday he confirmed Protheroe was armed after seeing a black gun lying in the grass.

He told the court he "assumed" Constable Hess moved the gun after the shooting but didn't see it because there had been so much going on.

Sen-Constable Weston said he "vaguely" remembered his partner bending down and moving the gun, even though he was standing over Protheroe to "cover" his colleague at the time.

"I'm assuming he's moved it away from Mr Protheroe's body," he said.

"I can't be sure."

The court heard Sen-Constable Weston initially made no reference to Protheroe wielding a gun during a taped police interview on April 17, which was replayed to the court.

Around half an hour into the interview, Sen-Constable Weston told his superiors he saw Protheroe run around with a "black item" in his hand but "didn't see it properly".

Counsel assisting Peter Johns said there was a record of Sen-Constable Weston trying to ring Constable Hess around 6pm on the day of the shooting but the call went unanswered.

Sen-Constable Weston said he may have dialled his partner by mistake.

He told the court he saw Protheroe "jumping and turning" as he was shot and queried whether he was diving for cover behind a concrete incinerator.

Sen-Constable Weston relayed that his partner yelled out "drop the gun" to Protheroe moments earlier.

He said he saw Protheroe holding a "black object" he assumed was a firearm at chest height towards Constable Hess, who was in the car port.

QPS ballistics expert Sgt Brett Meara said the gun allegedly brandished by Protheroe was identified as a replica pistol as early as 2.10pm on April 17.

He said two bullets struck Protheroe - one in the upper arm and the other in the lower back - one went through a fence paling and hit a sewer vent stack in the neighbour's yard and the fourth could not be found.

Sgt Meara said Protheroe would have been more than 1.75m from the shooter.

He mapped out numerous possible paths the bullet could have travelled using scientific calculation and "string-line" tests but said it was "impossible to recreate exactly what was at the scene" given the number of variables.

He told the court the location Ms Sinn indicated where the shooter had been, slightly outside of the carport near to an incinerator, would have been at "the absolute maximum value" of his calculations.

Sgt Meara said it was "more probable" the shooter was standing within the car port area identified by the two police officers.

A warrant for Ms Sinn's arrest was issued after she failed to show yesterday - allegedly due to ill health - to face cross-examination of her evidence in March that Protheroe was unarmed.

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Dead girl's beating not reported: Inquest

INQUEST: Leanne Thompson. Source: Supplied

CHILD Safety workers who were told that a girl, 15, in their care was being beaten by her drug abusing boyfriend ignored a mandatory obligation to report it to police, an inquest has heard.

The inquest into the 2006 death of Leanne Thompson also was told staff who suspected she was having sex with a criminal, 28, who was giving her drugs were powerless to forcibly remove her from his house.

Leanne was found hanging underneath the Upper Mt Gravatt house, on Brisbane's southside, on September 7, 2006, and she died that day in hospital.

More...

THOMPSON: Teen beaten and given drugs by boyfriend

WITNESS: She's in a bad way...she's mixing up morphine

EVIDENCE: Drug trafficker won't answer questions

Coroner John Lock yesterday told the inquest he would hear submissions on Friday and hoped to deliver his findings by the end of next week, so they could be referred to the Carmody child protection inquiry.

INQUEST: Witnesses Anne Duffield and Delia Williams.

Child Protection and Development Unit director, Belinda Mayfield, yesterday told Brisbane Coroners Court it was still the case that even if children put themselves at great risk case workers could not remove them from a place against their will.

The inquest was told that six days before her death Child Safety staff were told by Daniel O'Sachy that his brother Alex was giving her drugs, he had punched her on the back of the head that day and she had been cutting herself.

Case worker Elaine Kelly told the inquest she did not take his claims seriously.

Delia Williams, a departmental team leader in 2006, told the court she did not notify police because she called Leanne that day and accepted the 15-year-old's word that she was "perfectly fine".

"In situations where alleged harm may constitute a criminal offence there is an obligation under the Act to advise police," Ms Mayfield told the court.

She said that mandatory obligation would have applied at the time.

Anne Duffield, Leanne's Child Safety case worker, told the inquest she suspected the girl, who had absconded from department housing, was having sex with Alex O'Sachy, but the teenager denied it.

The court heard Leanne's father Sergeant Damian Rockett asked the department to forcibly remove Leanne from O'Sachy's house in July, 2006.

Ms Duffield said she and police felt there would be little point because Leanne would just return to O'Sachy.

The court heard Ms Duffield had at times taken Leanne grocery shopping and dropped her back outside Alex O'Sachy's house.

"Leanne was already very determined to stay with Alex O'Sachy and whether I had dropped her at a bus stop or there, it would not have made a difference," she said.

The court heard Leanne's death initially was treated as a suicide, but police began a homicide investigation in 2010 after Lisa Hart, the O'Sachys' neighbour, told of seeing Alex and Daniel assault and hang the girl.

The brothers have denied it.

On Friday Alex O'Sachy will face Coroner John Lock for contempt of court for refusing an order to answer questions at the inquest on Tuesday.

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Inquest into cold case murder begins

Lorraine Wilson and Wendy Evans who were murdered in 1974. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

THREE men who have been identified by police as "persons of interest" in the brutal cold case murder of Sydney nurses Wendy Evans, 18, and Lorraine Wilson, 20, will give evidence when an inquest opens today.

A police investigation into the case has spanned almost four decades since the women's disappearance in 1974 and the gruesome discovery of their bodies dumped in bushland at Murphys Creek, near Toowoomba, two years later.

Check back here for rolling updates of the inquest

A pre-inquest conference in Brisbane in December identified persons of interest Desmond Roy Hilton, Allan Neil Laurie and Terrance James O'Neill would be called to give evidence when it opened before State Coroner Michael Barnes in Toowoomba today.

Counsel assisting the Coroner Craig Chowdhury also identified now deceased Allan John Laurie, Wayne Hilton, Donald Laurie, and Larry Charles as persons of interest in the case.

An inquest in 1985 ruled the women met with "foul play" after their bodies were found in bushland on June 26, 1976 with skull fractures and marks consistent with being bound with the cord of a venetian blind.

Mr Chowdhury said a significant amount of material had since become available to police investigating the murders, including a number of witness statements taken between 1988 and 2005; the most recent in October.

He said at least 28 witnesses would be called to give evidence, including one who recalled seeing two women crying out for help as they were "manhandled" into a green-coloured EJ Holden.

Mr Chowdhury said much of the new evidence had never been previously reported to police.

Another witness would share a conversation she had with a stranger who gave a detailed account of the women's deaths at a Toowoomba pub in 1989, he told the court.

Another witness would recall seeing a man cleaning blood from a car on a suburban Toowoomba street when he was just 10-years-old.

A retired police officer involved in the original investigation would also give evidence, Mr Chowdhury said.

He said the court had a duty to investigate the deaths on behalf of "the two murdered girls, their families and the public of Queensland".

"It's a tragedy a lot of material that has come out wasn't available to the original investigation at the time," he said.

A $250,000 reward remains in place for information on the killings. Call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Minister warned of more deaths: Inquest

THE Federal Government was warned within a week of the first insulation-related death that there would be more fatalities, an inquest has heard.

Master Electricians Association chief executive Malcolm Richards said he met with Federal Minister Peter Garrett and his chief-of-staff on October 20, 2009, after the death of Matthew James Fuller, 25, in a Brisbane home, and warned them there would be more deaths if foil insulation rebates were not cancelled.

"I remember saying if you don't remove the rebate from foil-based products there will be more deaths in this program," Mr Richards told Brisbane Coroners Court.

He said the Minister reaffirmed the government's commitment to safety under the Home Insulation Program, but he was "non-committal about doing anything about it".

"He said he would put an industry group together," Mr Richards said.

Mr Richards was speaking at an inquest this week into the electrocution deaths of Mr Fuller, Rueben Barnes, 16, who died on November 18, 2009, and Mitchell Sweeney, 22, who died on February 4, 2010.

Mr Fuller and Mr Sweeney had been laying foil insulation using metal staplers and Mr Barnes had been installing fibreglass batts in a "live" ceiling cavity.

Mr Richards said from late September 2009, 20 electricians told of concerns about finding foil insulation and metal staples "everywhere" in ceiling cavities and of staples hitting cables, tripping safety switches.

"We were horrified to see that practice in the first place," he said.

Mr Richards said he immediately wrote to Peter Garrett asking for an urgent meeting, but before the letter could be sent Mr Fuller was killed.

Mr Richards said he later told an October 27 industry group meeting attended by 30 people that foil insulation products fixed with metal staplers should be outlawed completely.

"I believe I raised that issue very strongly at a meeting where insulation organisations were present trying to defend the use of metal insulation," he said.

Mr Sweeney was electrocuted eight days later.

Chief executive of National Electrical and Communications Association, James Tinslay, told the inquest the HIP was rolled out at "breakneck speed" by highly stressed public servants who did not have a grip on it.

The inquest has been adjourned until May 7.

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