A coronial inquest has heard a fatal house fire in North Queensland was likely deliberately lit by a man who would have been charged with the murder of his partner had he survived.
Lizzie Reuben, 47, and Isei Navutovuto, 65, died from burns suffered in a house fire in Ayr, south of Townsville, on August 9, 2022.
Ms Reuben suffered burns to 97 per cent of her body.
Mr Navutovuto, who suffered burns to almost 50 per cent of his body, died of multiple organ failure 20 days later in the Royal Brisbane Hospital.
An inquest into their deaths opened in the Coroner’s Court in Townsville this week.
The inquest is focused on the actions of Queensland Police officers including those who had been at the property responding to a welfare concern less than an hour before the fire started.
In the early hours of August 9, 2022, Ms Rueben had called triple-0 and told police she feared her partner, Mr Navutovuto, was attempting suicide in the back shed, but when officers responded, he was asleep inside.
The Ayr home was gutted in the blaze. (ABC North Qld: Baz Ruddick)
Domestic violence history
Mr Navutovuto had been convicted of domestic violence against her and was subject to a domestic violence order.
The court heard in the weeks before the fire, Ms Reuben had told her cousin and neighbours that Mr Navutovuto had threatened to burn the house down with her inside.
Those accounts were given to Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan McCormack, who has overseen the Ethical Standards Command investigation into the police response.
The detective told the court one neighbour kicked down the front door of the property while it was ablaze after hearing yelling.
“He saw Mr Navutovuto about 2 metres in front of him, he was running down the hallway, the flame was following him in a direct straight line,” the detective said.
“He believed Mr Navutovuto was pouring an accelerant.”
Other neighbours rendered first aid to Ms Reuben outside.
“She said to neighbours, ‘He has got a knife, and he is trying to kill me,” Senior Sergeant McCormack said.
The detective said that before Mr Navutovuto died, police were preparing to charge him.
“Based on my conversations with Detective Sergeant Shields, if Mr Navutovuto were to have survived his injuries, he would have been charged with homicide,” he said.
Senior Sergeant McCormack told Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher the police response was less than optimal, but no misconduct had occurred.
Constable Monica Stafford, a police officer of five years then, and first-year Constable Ethan Shields both gave evidence to the Coroner’s Court in Townsville on Tuesday.
They said though Mr Navutovuto had a history of domestic violence, they did not consider Ms Reuben’s triple-0 call on August 9 to be domestic violence-related.
The inquest continues.