Police officer assigned Kobi's case missed threats to kill in abusive father's file

A police officer who spoke with the mother of a baby that was killed by her father in a murder-suicide at the Whispering Wall has broken down in tears as she described how she could have handled the file differently.

Senior Constable Loriann Harris told an inquest into the death of nine-month-old Kobi Shepherdson and her father, Henry Shepherdson, that she would have assessed the case — which came through as medium risk — as high risk if she had "scrolled down" further on an initial reference provided about the case.

"Had I read her statement and seen that he had made those threats, I would have reviewed the risk assessment more accurately," she said.

Senior Constable Harris was working in the child and family investigation section at the time and said if she had recognised Kobi and her mother were at high risk, it would have prompted contact with a Department for Corrections contact officer who could have barred Shepherdson from contacting the mother via telephone.

The court earlier heard that Shepherdson had breached a non-contact order in place to protect Kobi and her mother 149 times, by calling the mother from the Adelaide Remand Centre.

He was arrested in December 2020, and accused of domestic violence offending including threats to kill and false imprisonment.

The court had heard Shepherdson had pressured the mother into dropping the charges.

He remained in custody until February, and was re-arrested in March for breaching a non-contact order.

Shepherdson and Kobi were found dead at the Whispering Wall in April 2021, hours after the magistrates' court granted a variation to a non-contact order to allow him to care for the child while her mother attended an appointment.

Threat to Kobi and mother missed

Senior Constable Harris said when she first received the report in March, Shepherdson was in custody, and when she spoke with Kobi's mother later that month, she was also not aware he had been released from custody.

She said when she triaged the file, it listed Shepherdson as accused of aggravated assault by threats, but she had not read further down to the description of the threats which had resulted in his arrest in December.

"What I didn't do was actually scroll down to the charges and the charges were the threats to their lives. Had I scrolled down … and read that I would have thought 'well, what's that all about?'," Senior Constable Harris said.

"You don't charge that lightly. Police don't tend to charge [people with threats to kill] unless we've got good evidence to corroborate that.

"Had I read that I would have then taken the time to read the statement from the previous occurrence which described it.

"Unfortunately, I didn't perceive that immediate risk to this family."

Shepherdson 'highly manipulative'

Senior Constable Harris said she thought Kobi's mother had been speaking freely with her during their contact via phone, but later realised that may not have been the case.

The officer said if she'd had more fulsome information she would have objected more strenuously to Kobi's mother's decision to vary the non-contact order.

She said her recollection of speaking with Kobi's mother was that she had wanted to vary the non-contact order because "she didn't want to stop the father from seeing the child".

Senior Constable Harris said she gave examples of ways that could happen safely, including in public places with CCTV and that her focus was on finding a way to "to enable contact, but in a safe environment".

Counsel assisting the coroner Martin Kirby had told the court on Tuesday that in the phone calls from prison, Shepherdson "could be heard exerting pressure on [Kobi's mother] to withdraw the charges against him" and had given her specific instructions on how to do so.

"Once your honour hears these calls you will be asked to classify them as showing highly manipulative behaviour from Mr Shepherdson towards her and, ultimately, that he was successful in his strategy of illegally contacting her and having her do what he wanted," he said.

The court had also heard the calls were not known to police, investigators, prosecutors or to the magistrates' court, which later varied the non-contact order.

Senior Constable Harris, a police officer of 17 years, also told the court police were not instantaneously notified when an offender was released from custody.

"I think it would be wonderful if we could have information more quickly from the courts," she said.

She said the delay in obtaining the information could be "quite significant" for the protection of victims.

The police prosecutor appearing in court on Shepherdson's case on the day the non-contact variation was granted, Tahnee Whybrow, also gave evidence, telling the inquest she was not aware of the prison calls — and would have changed her stance had she known Kobi's mother was being pressured.

"I could almost 100 per cent say that had I known that there had been contact, particularly from prison, and the extent of that contact, that would have been enough of a flag for me to say that I think there's some level of pressure being applied here," she said.

She said had it been known Shepherdson was pressuring Kobi's mother, it was unlikely police would have agreed to withdraw the charges.

Ms Whybrow, who now works interstate, said the first she knew a variation to contact was being sought was when she was approached by Shepherdson's solicitor in court that morning.

The court also heard that had investigators been aware, Shepherdson could have been charged with further offending, such as interfering with a witness or perverting the course of justice.

Ms Whybrow said she had a recollection of Shepherdson on the day, but there was "nothing substantial about him that jumped out".

The inquest, before Deputy State Coroner Ian White, continues.