Three hour wait for bashed woman and son

• By Greg Stolz

• From: The Courier-Mail

• February 09, 2010 12:16AM

GOLD Coast police took up to 3 1/2 hours to respond to a violent domestic dispute in which a woman was brutally bashed in front of her nine-year-old son and ended up on life support.

The boy told police his mother resembled "a rag doll" after a sustained attack lasting up to 90 minutes.

It was so violent that her blood was found splattered on the ceiling.

Police received a 000 call to a Burleigh Waters unit but the officers were diverted to another disturbance.

By the time they arrived at the unit, they found the woman unconscious in a pool of blood.

Last night she remained in intensive care.

Witnesses reported hearing the attack start about 12.30am on Saturday but police did not arrive at the scene until 4am.

An internal investigation has been launched.

The police media office announced an Ethical Standards investigation would be held as the bashed woman's partner faced Southport Magistrates Court yesterday charged with grievous bodily harm.

This horrifying report reflects something a local Police Prosecutor told me in a recent phone conversation. Sometimes the Australian Police are hesitant to rush to a domestic violence incident, because when they arrive the parties involved pretend that nothing happened. The woman involved has decided that 'she's still in love' with her abuser. Or she still wants to be with him. Surely this is not the point. The point is that when the police receive a report of violence, it should be investigated, just in case. Just in case someone is hurt. Just in case someone has died. Just in case children are at risk.

Of course we may not have a police force properly resourced to take timely action, and an Ethical Standards investigation might demonstrate that this was the case in this instance. Regardless of explanations offered for inaction, where there has been violence, we must consider the purpose of law enforcement in any Liberal Democracy (Australia is a Liberal Democracy). The law should tend to protect the citizen against the action of the strong and powerful, where that action is unacceptable. Where the law fails to do this, we should be clear that it is failing.