Sister’s triple-0 call before Lynn Cannon’s death given lower priority, inquest hears

ABC NEWS (Australia)

An emergency call dispatcher who downgraded the urgency of a welfare check on a Perth woman the night she was murdered, has told the inquest there was no indication her life was in danger. Lynn Cannon was stabbed to death by her estranges husband in the northern suburb of Landsdale in December 2022.

Transcript

00:00At 7.30pm, Ms Cannon's sister made her first emergency call of the night, warning police

00:08that Paul Cannon had threatened to kill Lyn earlier that day, and that she hadn't heard

00:12from her sister in hours.

00:14They were told where Lyn was, they were given an address, they were told there were serious

00:19concerns for her safety, a knife was involved, a threat to kill had occurred, this was out

00:25of character, not even her children could get hold of her.

00:29That call was listed as a priority two, which police aimed to respond to within 12 minutes,

00:34but two minutes later, it was downgraded to a three.

00:37Paul Sollick was the radio dispatcher who made that decision, telling the court it didn't

00:41meet the requirements of a higher priority.

00:44He said there wasn't evidence of Ms Cannon being in danger at the time.

00:47Do you regret your decision to downgrade the call?

00:50No comment.

00:51Police arrived at the scene one hour and 14 minutes after that initial call, but by then,

00:56it was too late.

00:57The court heard following Lyn Cannon's murder, WA Police implemented a new policy, stripping

01:02dispatchers of the power to downgrade jobs.

01:04Instead, that call must now be made by a senior sergeant.

01:08The inquest also heard from the acting radio dispatcher supervisor from that night, Scott

01:13Pickering, who was asked about his decision to send a police vehicle to Ms Cannon's home

01:17in Butler, despite her sister telling authorities she was in Lansdale.

01:21Mr Pickering said there was no information about her not being at home.

01:25They would have heard her screams.

01:26If they'd have gone to the address, Lyn would be here with us today.

01:30There is no doubt in our mind.

01:32Mr Pickering also questioned if Ms Cannon would have gone to her former partner's home

01:36had she feared for her safety.

01:38I just hope valuable lessons have been learned because we will never get over this.

01:44Losing Lyn has just been so painful and devastating for our family.

01:51It's a nightmare.

01:52And I don't want another family to go through this.

01:54The inquest continues tomorrow.

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