Seven 000 calls in two hours — why did police take 12 hours to respond to an Indigenous woman’s pleas?

This article contains detailed descriptions of domestic violence.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers please note that this article mentions deceased persons.

Between 12.32am and 2.13am on September 28 2021, emergency services received seven 000 calls that Kumanjayi Haywood’s partner was trying to kill her — five from her and two from her mother.

Despite repeated pleas to send help, Haywood was advised police would “work that out in the morning” and in the interim to “just go sit down on the veranda” where there are lights and have a “bit of a camp-up”. Signing off, the officer thanked her and told her to “have a good night”, a Northern Territory coronial inquest into the deaths of four Aboriginal women killed by their intimate partners has heard.

Just over a month later, Haywood would die as a result of injuries sustained in a house fire lit by her partner, Kumanjayi Dixon.

The phone recordings between Haywood and the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre (JESCC) played to the Alice Springs Local Court as part of the inquest tell a bigger story about the tragic consequences of gaps in domestic violence and cultural awareness training for first responders in a system failing both victims and police.

During the recordings, a police officer who identifies himself as Dave tells Haywood that it’s the middle of the night and officers at the closest Papunya police station are “not working right now”. He goes on to say that it’s on him to decide whether to disturb and deploy the officers (who work a 9-5 day and operate on an on-call basis for evenings) 45 minutes up the road to Haywood in Haasts Bluff.

Dave reasons that given Haywood has managed to leave the house, repeatedly call emergency services, and phone her mother (who was checked in at Alice Springs Hospital for treatment), she’s fine to see the night out.

“You’ve been calling us for at least an hour, you know, and he’s not coming to find you, he’s probably back home asleep,” he said.

Haywood died in November 2021, approximately six weeks after repeated calls to 000 from Haasts Bluff. Police had documented over a decade of serious violence between Haywood and Dixon.

The seven phone calls made on September 28 2021 came in at 12.32am, 12.40am, 12.53am, 1.17am, 1.25am, 1.37am and 2.13am. Haywood did not provide the emergency service operator with her real name (although her mother did) but repeatedly identified Dixon.

In the first call to JESCC, Haywood pleads for help, telling the operator that Dixon is trying to kill her with broken glass.

“I’ll be dead in one minute,” Haywood says.

The emergency service phone operator asks for her name, his name, who he is to her, what he’s done, how he’s trying to kill her, his current whereabouts, whether Haywood needs an ambulance, and if she wants police. Haywood gets increasingly upset and distressed, but the JSECC operator insists she needs to answer the questions in order to “get the job on”.

“I understand you’re scared, but I need you to answer my questions. If you don’t answer my questions, I’m going to have to terminate the call,” the operator says.

In the second call, Haywood tells a different operator to “stop asking questions” and to please send help because she’s scared for her safety.

“I just want him to go to jail,” she says, adding that he has a warrant. “He’s been hiding from the police, I need to report him.”

Haywood tells the operator that Dixon is in the house, she’s at a payphone, she has no-one in Haasts Bluff to help her, and asks if she can please stay on the line and keep talking. Haywood asks the JSECC operator if she may call her back later. “Sure,” she’s told.

“Sister, you know what? You’re a nice lady. I wish I gave you too many stars,” Haywood says, giving the operator a glowing review before asking her name, whether she has a husband of her own, and children. The lady introduces herself as Belinda, but reminds Haywood she’s called a “life and death emergency line” and they need to stop talking to free up the phones.

Haywood speaks to Belinda a further two times. In between requests to “just send the police”, she compliments the operator for talking “Black ways” and invites her to come down and visit so she can show her where to swim and teach her about snakes on Country. 

Amid Haywood’s best efforts to keep the conversation going, she discloses to the operator that Dixon has previously stabbed her in the leg and served 18 months jail time. Belinda tells her they have to stop tying up the line, urging Haywood to be patient and wait for police because they “can’t just magically appear”. 

According to Intergraph Computer Aided Dispatch (ICAD) call logs, the 000 calls from Haywood were initially graded priority three (on a sliding scale of zero to five, zero is most serious and five is least serious). This was upgraded to priority two at 12.42am, then priority one at 12.52am. But 32 seconds later it was again downgraded to priority two as there was “no indication of immediate risk”. At 1.04am it was downgraded again to priority three, before being upgraded to priority two at 1.38am, and downgraded again to priority three at 1.49am.

It concluded as a priority two incident, with notes that read: “No immediate or imminent demonstrated by time and number of calls made by comp from payphone with no disturbance and [Person Of Interest] not coming to location”.

In addition to Haywood’s calls, two calls were made to JSECC by Haywood’s mother from Alice Springs Hospital, who told the operator repeatedly that Dixon was trying to kill her daughter. She was told to tell Haywood to call JSECC directly. 

Papunya police did not visit Haywood in Haasts Bluff until 12.46pm on September 28, over 12 hours after the initial call for help was made. In body-camera footage seen by the inquiry, Haywood denies making any of the phone calls the previous night and after refusing to answer questions from a male Papunya police officer about the incident, is arrested for an outstanding warrant. She is seen walking with a limp to the police van with bandages on her legs. Police were unaware that Haywood had presented to the Haasts Bluff Health Clinic at 11.40am that morning, where she told staff she had been assaulted with a stick.

Northern Territory coroner Elisabeth Armitage told the inquest that call takers and officers need to be trained in recognising the subtleties of domestic violence. Referring to a separate 000 phone call made by Haywood just over a month later on November 3 2021 (a few days before the domestic violence incident that led to her death) Armitage points to the calmness of the call, reiterating that this is by no means indicative of safety.

“When there’s a lot of noise and screaming and yelling in the background, you have a certain visceral response and appreciate that that might indicate immediate threat. But that quiet menace can also be very threatening,” she said.

In this call, Haywood (who does not identify herself) reports that her partner Dixon is at the house with her when he “shouldn’t be”. She confirms there are orders in place and provides her location. In the background, Dixon can be heard calling Haywood a “liar”. 

Senior Constable and JESCC supervisor Luke Galey told the inquiry that because the male in the background is calm, risk assessment is low, but it’s “certainly not good that he’s there.”

JESCC called back, Haywood answered, identified herself with a different name, but said she was “all good”. The call log notes read: “nil disturbance noted, unable to confirm persons involved or existence of a DVO”. 

The inquest heard gaps in domestic violence and cultural awareness training for first responders, language barriers, and rigid emergency response protocols and priorities all played into ongoing mismanagement of domestic violence incidences, including Haywood’s.

Addressing the officers involved, Armitage told the inquiry that not only is Haywood’s experience as a victim of domestic violence “common”, but so too is the experience of the police as responders to domestic violence.

“If this has happened to you, it is likely that it’s happened to other police,” she said.

“Those systems are also failing you.”

If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.