Sleba, Leanne Margaret
Deceased
Leanne Margaret Sleba
Demographics
33y, female
Date of death
2008-04-24
Finding date
2011-06-24
Cause of death
Gunshot wound to the back of the chest
AI-generated summary
Leanne Margaret Sleba died from a gunshot wound to the back of her chest when a 12-gauge Boito shotgun held by her husband Geoffrey discharged while they were searching their shed for a snake at approximately 10pm on 24 April 2008. The coroner could not determine whether the shooting was accidental, intentional, or criminally negligent due to the inability to directly examine Geoffrey about critical details. Key clinical issues include the inconsistency between Geoffrey's account to ambulance officers that Leanne was 'right there next to me' and his later police statement that she was 4-5 metres away, which contrasts with ballistic evidence suggesting approximately 50 centimetres distance. The coroner noted the extremely unlikely snake behaviour according to expert evidence, yet found insufficient evidence to exclude accident as a cause. Geoffrey's psychiatric condition (brief psychotic disorder with paranoid delusions) prevented his attendance and cross-examination at inquest, significantly limiting the investigation's completeness.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Drugs involved
Contributing factors
- Firearm loaded, cocked, with safety off and finger on trigger while people were in front of the gun
- Use of more powerful 12-gauge Boito shotgun rather than less powerful .410 shotgun for snake control in confined space
- Extremely unlikely snake behaviour given ambient temperatures of 11-12 degrees Celsius at the time
- Inability to directly examine the only witness (Geoffrey Sleba) due to psychiatric illness
- Inconsistent accounts regarding distance between firearm and victim at time of discharge
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