An inquest into the death of Lynn Cannon, who was murdered by her estranged husband in December 2022, has begun in Perth. The inquest is examining the decisions made by WA police the night she was killed, amid questions of why it took officers more than an hour to arrive at the scene.
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00:00Dressed in red, it was Lynne Cannon's favourite colour.
00:06Side by side, her sisters and loved ones walked into the coroner's court, hoping for answers.
00:11What we're hoping for today is that those individuals have the humility to be able to admit their failures
00:19and that Lynne can become the face of change.
00:22A day after her 51st birthday, Lynne Cannon was stabbed to death by her former partner, Paul,
00:28who was sentenced to life in prison last year.
00:31The night she was killed, her sister had alerted police of Mr Cannon's threats to kill Lynne
00:36and asked for an urgent welfare check.
00:39But the job was downgraded from a priority two to a three.
00:42The inquest was told a witness to the stabbing called triple zero and a single paramedic was sent to the scene.
00:48Five calls made by that paramedic to police went unanswered.
00:52When a police car was dispatched, it was diverted to another job before being diverted back.
00:57Officers finally arrived at 8.44pm, four minutes after Ms Cannon was declared deceased.
01:03She could have been with us had people just listened and acted on those calls that were made.
01:08The court heard Ms Cannon's sister had given the wrong street number and called again to correct it,
01:13but that information was not passed on.
01:15Detective Sergeant Reeve Shelhott from Police Internal Affairs told the court
01:19that officer had been found negligent and was sanctioned.
01:22But he also confirmed the decision to downgrade the job was appropriate,
01:26which was also supported by Detective Teagan Mills from the Homicide Squad.
01:30Detective Mills testified that the initial call to police did not raise concerns
01:34that Ms Cannon may have been held hostage by her estranged husband,
01:38receiving gasps from family and friends in the gallery.
01:41She said everyone did the best they could with the information provided,
01:45and that if anyone could have prevented what happened that night, they absolutely would have.
01:49It was a tsunami of pain unleashed on family, friends, even the people who she worked for.
01:56You know, the ripples after Lynne was gone, the devastation it caused,
02:03it was just, yeah, I mean, that's why we're here today.
02:07The inquest is set to continue this week.