South Australian Deputy Coroner Ian White criticized police submissions in the inquest into the deaths of nine-month-old Kobi Shepherdson and her father, Henry Shepherdson, calling them 'capable of being read as victim-blaming' towards Kobi's mother.
South Australian Deputy Coroner Ian White is inquiring into the deaths of nine-month-old Kobi Anastasia Isobel Shepherdson and Henry David Shepherdson, 38, at a dam north-east of Adelaide on April 21, 2021. They died hours after a magistrates court granted a variation to a no-contact order to allow Shepherdson to care for Kobi while her mother was at an appointment.Kobi Shepherdson.
(Nine) The inquest has previously been told Shepherdson had called the baby's mother 149 times from prison, in breach of an intervention order, and coerced her into dropping charges against him. During closing submissions today, White had a tense exchange with Lauren Gavranich, representing government agencies including South Australia Police and the Department of Correctional Services. 'The (written) submissions, particularly on behalf of the commissioner of police ... commenting on Kobi's mother, caused me to have a very bad reaction,' White said.'You and everyone else here heard 15 gruelling calls played in open court.' The coroner said he was troubled by a paragraph of the police submission, which read: 'Kobi's mother did not need to pick up any of the calls or speak with him, particularly in circumstances where she was safe and he was in custody'.'I believe these submissions on behalf of the commissioner are capable of being read as victim-blaming,' he said. 'Your Honour, I completely disagree with you and that is not the commissioner's position in any way, shape or form,' Gavranich said.'It's a wrong submission to say she had no choice to pick up those calls.'Counsel assisting Martin Kirby said Kobi's mother was 'completely blindsided' when she received the first phone call from Shepherdson, from prison on January 31, 2021. 'She's quiet, she's initially unresponsive and she sounds fearful ... this would have been a very frightening and shocking moment,' he sai
INQUEST VICTIM BLAMING POLICE SUBMISSION CHILD DEATH FAMILY VIOLENCE
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