Finding into death of Maryam Hamka
Deceased
Maryam Hamka
Demographics
36y, female
Date of death
2021-04-11
Finding date
2026-02-27
Cause of death
Unascertained
AI-generated summary
Maryam Hamka, 36, was killed by her intimate partner Toby Loughnane on 11 April 2021. The coroner found cause of death unascertained due to skeletal remains. Critical systemic failures included: Victoria Police's risk assessment of the 6 March 2021 incident as 'medium risk' when Loughnane's extensive history of family violence across six previous partners, multiple intervention order breaches, and prison sentences warranted 'high risk' classification. Despite Loughnane being subject to Priority Target Management and Management Response Teams for other victims, investigating members failed to manually override the risk rating or apply professional judgment. Police did not serve the family violence intervention order until after Maryam disappeared. No intensive perpetrator interventions were implemented despite evidence supporting holistic, wraparound programs for high-risk offenders. Community awareness of coercive control remains inadequate.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Contributing factors
- Failure to classify incident as high-risk despite perpetrator's extensive family violence history
- Lack of Victoria Police professional judgment in risk assessment
- Delayed service of family violence intervention order
- Inadequate perpetrator intervention programs for high-risk offenders
- Limited engagement with victim-survivor due to unavailable contact address
- Community and bystander awareness gaps regarding coercive control
- Short prison sentences without adequate rehabilitation or supervision
- Perpetrator's disregard for court orders and intervention orders across multiple relationships
Coroner's recommendations
- Victoria Police engage an external independent suitably qualified person to conduct an evaluation of both the CPRM Version 3 and the effectiveness and skillset of the FVIUs, with adequate funding and resourcing by the Victorian Government
- Department of Families, Fairness and Housing provide ongoing funding for long-term perpetrator interventions that provide holistic, wraparound supports, such as the Changing Ways pilot
Full text
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Source and disclaimer
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