‘Wildly Inappropriate’ Police Note Surfaces After Woman Was Stabbed and Set on Fire by Husband

The Queensland Police allegedly missed three chances to save a 27-year-old Australian mother of three weeks before her murder by her estranged husband, a coronial inquest has heard.

The Gold Coast mother, Kelly Wilkinson, was stabbed and set ablaze with petrol outside her home by former U.S. Marine Brian Earl Johnston in April 2021.

Johnston,37, is currently serving a life sentence in prison after pleading guilty in 2024.

According to ABC News, a coronial inquest began at the Southport Coroners Court on March 2 to review the interactions between Wilkinson and Johnston with officials in the weeks leading up to her domestic violence death. The inquest is also examining policy changes made by Queensland Police since Wilkinson’s murder.

The head of the Gold Coast Domestic, Family Violence (DFV) and Vulnerable Persons Unit (VPU), Detective Inspector Paul Fletcher, said Wilkinson lodged a complaint about Johnston breaching a temporary protection order against him about a week before her murder. However, an officer on duty, Const Diana Sovacki, logged it as a “street check.”

Fletcher said domestic violence matters are not supposed to be recorded as street checks because “what that does within the police system, it sort of falls through the cracks”, The Guardian reported.

Further, a file note left by Sovacki in the database said that Wilkinson was “cop-shopping to get the outcome she wants” was “wildly inappropriate,” Fletcher made clear.

Additionally, Fletcher told the court that nine days before the murder, Johnston was granted “station bail” despite Wilkinson informing the police that he s------- abused her.

The court heard Johnston should have been placed in custody for the matter to be heard by a magistrate, as required by Queensland’s Bail Act.

Although disciplinary action was taken against the two officers, Fletcher said it was “hard to say” if Wilkinson could have been saved if police had followed protocol. “I think there have been opportunities for improvements in best practice with how we deal with domestic violence,” Fletcher said.

'"Four days before her murder, Wilkinson was reportedly turned away from Southport Police Station and told to “cool off, give Brian a break', while seeking help from police.

The inquest, which was supposed to end on March 5, has been put on hold following developments in the hearing.

"All that Kelly wanted from life was to love and be loved, and there are no words for the way she suffered in her last moments," Wilkinson's sister Danielle Carroll told the court, according to The Guardian.

According to Fletcher, the Queensland Police Service made several changes in its system. Everyone in the Gold Coast Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) must now take part in a five-day specialist course to “enhance skills” in dealing with domestic and family violence.

Officers must consult the police database for further context when completing risk assessments and work through each risk factor with the person making a domestic violence complaint.

The police working on Wilkinson’s case allegedly did not have access to a “high-risk” report on her file and categorized her complaint as “medium-risk.”

“[We want] to look at things more holistically and not just incident-based and try to look at the whole background of a relationship and what’s been going on over time,” the detective said.