Finding into death of Helena Zoe Broadbent
Deceased
Helena Zoe Broadbent
Demographics
32y, female
Date of death
2019-09-28
Finding date
2025-07-22
Cause of death
Head injuries in a motor vehicle incident
AI-generated summary
Helena Zoe Broadbent, a 32-year-old pregnant Aboriginal woman, died from severe head injuries sustained when her partner William Wilson drove off in a vehicle while she was partially inside it, causing her to be ejected onto the road. This occurred during an escalating family violence incident on 28 September 2019. Multiple agencies—Victoria Police, Child Protection, Elizabeth Morgan House, and Housing Victoria—had prior contact with Helena. Key systemic failures included: police non-compliance with family violence protocols on 19 September 2019 (failure to submit L17 forms or notify Child Protection of alleged drug use); inconsistent risk assessment by Child Protection; delays in the Flexible Support Package process that left Helena financially dependent on her violent partner; and housing barriers that prevented her from safely excluding him. The coroner identified that while individual interventions alone could not definitively have prevented the death, better coordinated multi-agency responses, clearer communication about FVIO options, faster housing resolution, and timely police documentation would have been appropriate. The case highlights systemic gaps in family violence service integration and risk management for Aboriginal women.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- family violence perpetrated by intimate partner
- drug use by perpetrator
- escalating threats to kill
- police non-compliance with family violence protocols on 19 September 2019
- Child Protection inconsistent risk assessment and documentation
- delays in Flexible Support Package process
- housing insecurity and inability to exclude perpetrator
- financial dependence created by lack of reliable transport
- lack of coordinated multi-agency response
- perpetrator's access to vehicle despite active FVIO
- inadequate clarification of FVIO options and processes
Coroner's recommendations
- Establish an independent civilian-led mechanism or entity for oversight and accountability of police response to family violence, sitting outside Victoria Police, resourced for prompt and thorough reviews, developed in consultation with Aboriginal organisations including the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
- Family Safety Victoria to ensure all Flexible Support Package providers comply with consistent and comprehensive guidelines, with particular emphasis that updates to packages are not discouraged or disallowed
- Family Safety Victoria to explore enhancements to the FSP online portal to make it more user-friendly and transform it into an end-to-end platform, rather than relying on email correspondence
- Require all case managers assisting victim-survivors to access FSPs to be trained in trauma-informed care and practice
Full text
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