Coronial investigation into Tara Brown murder finds police failed to properly investigate domestic violence complaint

A Queensland coroner has found Gold Coast police failed to appropriately respond to a young mother’s desperate plea for help days before her ex-partner ran her off the road and bashed her to death with a metal plate in 2015.

Tara Brown, 24, was killed by her ex-partner Lionel Patea in a horrific domestic violence attack after she dropped their three-year-old daughter off at day care in Molendinar on September 8, 2015.

Patea pursued and ran Ms Brown’s car off the road before he bashed her almost 30 times to the face and head with a steel water hydrant cover while she was trapped in her upturned car.

He pleaded guilty to Ms Brown’s murder and was sentenced to life in prison in 2017.

A coronial investigation by…