CONTENT WARNING: This post deals with matters of domestic violence, and may be triggering for some readers.
The three witnesses who watched ‘Lizard Man’ strangle his ex-girlfriend to death before killing himself will not be charged by police.
A coronial inquiry has been launched into the murder-suicide which saw Bronson Ellery bash and strangle Shelsea Schilling to death, before changing into a suit, lying down next to her lifeless body, and taking a lethal overdose of drugs.
On November 18 of last year, after Schilling tried to leave his apartment, Ellery bashed her head against his apartment tiles then pushed her head into a pillow, suffocating her.
One of the witnesses, a woman who was a mutual friend of both Schilling and Ellery, came forward to police five days after the bodies were found in the Johnston Street unit and gave a detailed account of the killing.
But the woman and two other witnessed will not be charged, as Queensland does not have a bystander responsibility law, which means the people who witnessed the crime will escape prosecution.
When a state or territory has a bystander responsibility law, like in Western Australia for example, a person who fails to rescue someone in need of help can face a maximum prison term of seven years.
However, the legal loophole in Queensland could soon be closed. Opposition prevention of domestic violence spokeswoman Ros Bates has sponsored a petition to State Parliament calling for penalties to witnesses who fail to report serious crimes.
— Solitary Son (@Solitary_Son) November 3, 2015
Top Comments
Reckon if Id been her dad Id have been on her about this bloke from the start
What gutless people.To me they are almost as culpable as her loony partner.