CORONER'S INQUESTS

Mr Wilson criticised police for telling Mr Batchelor that his partner was going home before releasing him.

"Arrest and detention would have been in accordance with the pro-charge, pro-arrest police policy in place at the time," Mr Wilson told the Coroners Court session, which was attended by a handful of family and friends of the dead couple.

"It would have been a simple, and certainly the appropriate thing to do, to arrest him (Mr Batchelor) in order to facilitate the making of a restraint order," Mr Wilson said.

During his 20-minute address, Mr Wilson detailed a sequence of events on April 7, 2001, that resulted in Ms Mercer going to Launceston police station to report an incident in which she alleged that she had been beaten by Mr Batchelor the previous evening.

About 8.30pm, Mr Batchelor went to the police station seeking Ms Mercer, did not find her but was interviewed by police who allowed him to leave.

About 9pm both Ms Mercer and Mr Batchelor separately left the police station, Ms Mercer with friend Sharee Marianne Gill and a domestic crisis worker to retrieve property from her home in Marlborough St, Longford.

Police followed in another car.

Mr Batchelor also drove to the home before approaching on foot.

Ms Mercer started packing clothes to move out and police removed two .45 rifles from the house, but were unable to locate a third rifle registered in Mr Batchelor's name.

Mr Batchelor walked to within 9m of the house and shot Ms Mercer through the window, killing her, before turning the gun on himself.

In his coroner's report, Mr Wilson quoted Ms Gill, who said that Ms Mercer had left the station with the assurance from police that "Darren was still at the station and that he would not be leaving."

"One of the police told Darren that we were going out to the property to seize his firearms and get some stuff for Sonja," Mr Wilson said, quoting Ms Gill.

Police had followed Ms Mercer to Longford.

Mr Wilson's formal inquest findings were that Sonja Anne Mercer, shop assistant, died on April 7, 2001, "of gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen intentionally inflicted upon her by her partner Darren William Batchelor who immediately thereafter took his own life in a murder- suicide".

Mr Wilson then expressed his "condolences to the family and friends of the deceased".

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