According to the Redlands-based Red Rose Foundation that works to end domestic and family violence related deaths in Australia, four women and three children had suffered the horrific and violent deaths at the hands of ex-partners and, in the case of the children, their father.

Red Rose said three of the four women – Alexis Parkes, Hannah Clarke, Doreen Langham and Kelly Wilkinson – had current domestic violence protection orders. There had been reported breaches on all orders. All four women had recently been separated.

Brian Earl Johnston, 34, from New Beith near Logan, today registered no plea in Southport Magistrates Court on the Gold Coast to charges of murdering 27-year-old Wilkinson and breaching a domestic violence order.

Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Nicole Jackson asked for the matter to be adjourned to the domestic violence court.
Magistrate Grace Kahlert adjourned the matter to June 4.

Wilkinson is the latest in the grim list of women violently killed in domestic violence situations in Australia.

Wilkinson’s burned body was found in the back yard of her Spikes Court, Arundel home early Tuesday after police were called by a neighbour reporting a disturbance around 6:40am.

A post-mortem examination will be conducted on her body today.

Wilkinson’s three children, all aged under nine years, were at the house at the time of the alleged murder. It is understood the children are now all staying with an aunt.

Johnston was not at the brief court mention. He remains under police guard in hospital suffering burns to his hands and airways.

Johnston was found two blocks away from Wilkinson’s body early Tuesday on the front lawn of another house in Langer Court, Arundel. He was discovered in semi-conscious state and taken to hospital under police guard. He was charged by police Tuesday night.

Wilkinson’s sister Natalie launched a GoFundMe page on Tuesday afternoon to raise money “to pay for the funeral, the kids schooling and all other costs” for Wilkinson’s three children. It had a goal of raising $50,000. More than $56,000 had been raised by 9:00am Wednesday.

Manager of the Gold Coast McLeod Domestic Violence Refuge, Rosemary Larkin, said violence against women continued to rise despite violence against women being “talked about more and more readily believed”.

The murder of Kelly Wilkinson is eerily similar to the murder of Brisbane mother Hannah Clarke. (Photo: Facebook)

The alleged murder of Wilkinson has horrific similarities to the violent death of Brisbane mum Hannah Clarke in February last year. Clarke, 31, and her children all aged under six, Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey, were murdered in Brisbane’s Camp Hill after her estranged husband Rowan Baxter ambushed them on the morning school run.

Baxter doused them with petrol and set the car alight before he died of self-inflicted stab wounds nearby.

The three children died in the car Hannah Clarke died later that night in hospital from horrific burns to most of her body.

Larkin said while domestic violence was spoken about more openly, extreme violence continued.

“We have women come into the refuge and say, ‘I thought it would be OK until he poured petrol on me.’
“Fortunately something’s happened and he didn’t light the match,” she said.

“Dying by fire, dying by knife, strangulation, gunshot, being run over, whatever – having a violent death is a violent death. There’s no trend to it. The only trend here is the power and control of domestic violence.”

Larkin said women needed to seek help at the first sign of domestic violence. “If you think you’re going to be the one that he’s not going to tip over the edge and kill you, you can’t. There’s no barometer on this, nobody knows when someone will kill.
“Even if he’s threatened it, get out.”

Larkin said the Gold Coast had the highest number of private applications for protection orders and police applications for protection orders in Queensland.
“Every single woman in our refuge, we know we’ve potentially saved her life,” Larkin said.

“We see a lot of it on the Gold Coast because it’s pretty easy to convince your family to come to the Gold Coast, away from all their support.
“The end goal is to isolate them from their friends and family because they don’t want her to have support.”

Between 1 July 2020 and 31 March this year, Queensland courts issued 38,384 domestic violence orders, up 3,431 or almost 10 percent on the same period last year.

Police laid 21,142 charges against offenders in Queensland for breaching DVOs in the same three-month period. This includes offenders contravening DVOs, police protection notices or release conditions.

Larkin said recent cases showed how vital it was to take action against domestic violence. “Domestic violence is about power and control in a relationship. Ultimate control is death or suicide,” she said.