This part twelve of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner for the South Metro Region, Luke Cornelius, gave evidence today. This was followed by a personal statement from Rosie Batty, and her photographic tribute to Luke. Continue reading →

This is the first post of part eleven of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

Suppression orders and sticking plasters

This morning Rosie’s legal team and media lawyers argued, against the Commission for Children and Young People and the Department of Human Services, that the Commission’s report of its inquiry into the death of Luke Batty should be at least partly available for direct use in examination of remaining witnesses and for the public to be able to access via media reports. Continue reading →

This is part ten of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

The inquest heard today from a range of services that assisted Rosie and Luke, via a GP, an art therapist, a family violence service worker, a victims of crime counselling service, and a family violence applicant support worker. Continue reading →

This is part eight of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

Child Protection worker Tracie Portelli was cross-examined today. The Court heard last week on Day Three that following contact with Child Protection, Rosie signed an undertaking to protect Luke from Anderson, because Child Protection deemed her a protective parent. This afternoon Rosie’s Senior Counsel suggested to Ms Portelli that the undertaking and the FVIO, with its limited and public contact between Anderson and Luke, were inconsistent: how could Rosie protect Luke if, for example, Anderson suddenly took him away, without putting herself at risk, which the intervention order was designed to prevent? Continue reading →

This is part seven of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

The system approach again

As the inquest reaches Day Seven, it is worth returning again to the system approach. Of course we know that people sometimes commit wilful acts or behave in grossly negligent ways. However, James Reason stresses the importance of focusing less on the individual origins of error and much more on the system context of those acts or omissions. One of the advantages of this stance is that it helps us identify the recurrent patterns in avoidable deaths. Reason points out that if the approach used doesn’t seek out and remove the properties within the system at large that lead to or increase the possibility of a death, we won’t enhance safety. Continue reading →

This is part six of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

 

 

A system approach to death prevention

The strength of our modern coronial system lies is the way it is underpinned by a system approach to death prevention. Many of the concepts and theories of this approach are informed by lessons in the medical realm. The practice of different personnel checking the same details with the patient multiple times before surgery, in order to try to avoid the ‘removal of the wrong leg’ scenario, is one illustration. Continue reading →

This is part five of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

Police risk assessment and management, again

Today we heard how in January 2013, Anderson was arrested and bailed for the child pornography offences he was alleged to have committed in November 2012.

Detective Andrew Cocking had a warrant for Anderson’s arrest on these charges and engaged in a series of communications with Rosie about Anderson’s possible whereabouts, Continue reading →