Woman dies after police fail to respond to 000 call in time
A delayed police response is under investigation after a woman in her 40s died when police officers took almost an hour to respond to a 000 call.
Sarah Miles, a mother-of-three from Byron Bay, died after she was allegedly beaten by her boyfriend in her home on Saturday morning.
A triple-0 call was made at 1:30am after neighbours reportedly heard screams coming from the house, but NSW Police didn’t acknowledge the call until 2:25am.
By the time they arrived on the scene, they found Miles fighting for life in her final moments.
She was unconscious but breathing, with “obvious injuries” to her head caused by a physical assault, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said.
“Police assisted her and called for an ambulance immediately (which) arrived very shortly after, but unfortunately, her condition deteriorated, and she died at the scene,” McKenna said.
“The delay in the timing of police acknowledging that call and attending the scene has given me enough concern that I’ve asked for an independent review of this investigation as to what that delay was and if it was justified."
“We want to see what happened from the time that call was made, how the radio operator dispatched that call, the circumstances around the timings until it was acknowledged and until police attended.”
The NSW Police Homicide Squad is working separately with local officers to investigate Miles’ death.
McKenna said the force takes domestic violence very seriously and the issue is at the “top of our priority list”.
“It is one of the most serious crimes there is, and we will do everything we can to take this as seriously as we can and make sure people are held to account and put before the courts,” he said.
Miles's partner, Dwayne John Creighton, 31, was arrested at the scene and taken to Lismore Police Station, where he was charged with one count of murder.
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