The Triple Zero call came at 7.03pm. Lindy’s body wasn’t found until after midnight

Lindy Lucena lay dead or dying among clothes discarded near a charity bin at Ballina in northern NSW. Nearly an hour after being fatally beaten by her partner, two police cars drove past her slowly. The officers, stretched thin on a busy night, never left their vehicles.

Her body was found nearly five hours later when her partner, Robert Huber, led police to the site. Lucena died behind the Salvation Army building, less than 600 metres from the Ballina police station. Huber has since been convicted of manslaughter.

The police watchdog has examined the series of failures in the response which may have saved Lucena’s life.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission examination, overseen by Commissioner Anina Johnson, concluded on Monday.

7.03pm – The Triple Zero call

The failures began at 7.03pm on January 3, 2023, with a Triple Zero call. “There’s a man bashing the hell out of his woman at the back of the Salvation Army in Ballina,” the caller said, but declined to provide more details.

The call was logged as a priority two incident, meaning police should leave any lower-priority jobs to respond; however, it was categorised as a “concern for welfare” report rather than the higher category of assault.

The critical alert, meant to be broadcast within 90 seconds and repeated every 60 seconds, was sent seven minutes later and broadcast only twice more over the next half hour.

Senior communications officers attributed this failure to an “outdated” operating system that requires scrolling to view jobs.

It was a busy night for police in the northern region, with one officer writing in her handover notes that staff “got smashed between 6pm and 10pm”.

This strain was an ongoing issue, with officers telling the commission that staffing levels had been consistently reduced, with part-time staff often replacing full-time roles.

“Policing as a whole … is starting to be dealt with as a business, as opposed to an emergency service,” the responding senior communications officer said.

“We need to be at full strength, and we’re not. We rarely are.”

7.55pm – Initial police response

It took police 52 minutes to arrive at the Salvation Army building. Officers were responding to a mental health incident and a road accident where a car had smashed into a tree on the highway. But both jobs were priority three. Lucena’s assault was the only high-urgency incident in Ballina between 6.38pm and 7.41pm.

One officer told the commission he prioritised the crash, saying he was concerned about road fatalities as the crash was on a blind corner on a highway with speeds of 110 kilometres per hour. The commission also heard that an assault required two officers to attend for their safety. The officer was unaware that priority two jobs should be responded to before lower-priority jobs.

When the two officers finally arrived, nearly an hour after the initial call, they drove their separate vehicles without lights and sirens, as so much time had already passed without further calls.

They patrolled slowly around the site, never leaving their cars. Lucena’s body, located closer to the building and behind a metal fence, couldn’t be seen from the road. Within three minutes, they determined there was nothing to respond to and left the scene.

“[With] the benefit of hindsight … I wish I’d looked over that fence. But I didn’t,” one officer told the commission.

It’s not known if Lucena was still alive as police drove past her body.

7.20-9.30pm – Time of death

Two experts gave two different opinions as to Lucena’s time of death at Huber’s manslaughter trial. One said she probably died at 7.20pm, and the other around 9.30pm.

The court found the cause of death was the beating, which, combined with her coronary heart disease and possibly the effect of a small amount of methadone in her system, caused her heart to stop. The time and cause of her death will be analysed at a future coronial inquest.

12.30am – Police return to the scene

Huber arrived barefoot at Ballina police station around 12.30am and told the same officer who had driven past Lucena’s body that his “missus is dead”.

The officer took Huber back to the Salvation Army building in a police car. Bodycam footage showed Huber leading police to the charity donation bins behind a white metal gate.

Counsel assisting the commission Emma Sullivan described Lucena’s body as being found “amongst items of clothing, baggage and other bric-a-brac strewn around”.

“I just woke up and I seen her there and I tried to wake her up. She wouldn’t wake up,” Huber was heard saying on the police bodycam footage shown to the court during his manslaughter trial. “She doesn’t look good, does she?”

He had blood on his hands and shirt. Police noted Lucena had bruising to her face. Huber was arrested at 1.21am on January 4 for suspected murder.

1am – Top brass informed

Shortly after Huber presented to the police, Superintendent Scott Tanner’s phone rang, waking him, and he was told about Lucena’s death. He arrived at the scene within 20 minutes and texted Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman.

Tanner and Chapman agreed the death and response delays did not meet the criteria for a critical incident, which would have triggered an independent police investigation.

“Declaring a critical incident also places a lot of stress and pressure on the police that are involved … [there’s] the assertion that they’ve done something wrong,” Tanner told the commission.

The pair also believed subsequent coronial and criminal investigations, as well as a State Crime Command domestic violence homicide review, would provide sufficient oversight.

“The lesson is we need more staff. We need more people to join our organisation. You know, Ballina is a community of over 35,000 people. It still has the same first response it had in 1985,” Tanner said.

The police watchdog was contacted by Greens MP Sue Higginson in July this year, prompting the public examination.

Huber was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in July 2032.

National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732); Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; Lifeline 131 114; Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

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