A Queensland man has admitted to splashing petrol on his former partner and threatening to burn their house down, in a court case successfully prosecuted by the victim because the state’s police refused to bring domestic violence charges.

In 2017 police told the victim, Dani*, that there was a prima facie case against her former partner for threatening violence, but because there was “a low level of public interest” they would not bring a charge.

Dani then took the rare step of hiring a barrister and prosecuting the criminal case herself.

Her barrister, Clem van der Weegen, said the private prosecution and guilty plea should “deeply embarrass” the Queensland police.

At a hearing last year, a Queensland magistrate’s court was told that officers had refused to cooperate with the case and had declined to make written witness statements. They eventually supplied statements after Dani’s legal team complained directly to the police commissioner, Katarina Carroll.

'Failure in our system': after Hannah Clarke and her children's murder, experts call for action Read more

Dani said she was warned the process would be costly and time-consuming but that she “could not allow [his] actions to define the rest of my life”.

“It has been over four years since I believed I was going to die at the hands of my partner,” she said.

“Every day I am faced with the challenge of living with post-traumatic stress disorder, the loss of who I was, how I was able to function in life and what I was able to achieve. [His] threat to set me alight has had a profound and irreversible effect on my life and the lives of my children.

“No woman, no victim should ever have to go to these lengths to seek justice.

“But I had heard so many harrowing accounts from DV survivors and so many instances of the Queensland police failing to take DV victims seriously, failing to bring criminal charges to make perpetrators accountable, and failing to keep women and children safe that I felt I really had no choice but to carry on.”



On 31 January the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to threatening violence. In doing so, the man admitted to details including that he splashed petrol on Dani and threatened to burn down the house. She was inside the house at the time. The man was sentenced to 130 hours community service and had no conviction recorded.



Dani says her story highlights how women can be failed in domestic violence cases where the victim and offender give radically different versions of events

The man had previously pleaded guilty to a property offence – wilful damage – that occurred on the same night, but was not charged in relation to his domestic violence.



At Dani’s urging, police conducted a “factual review” of the incident in 2017.



The officer who conducted the review recommended no domestic violence charges against her former partner.



Instead, police turned the tables on Dani and warned she could be charged with assault for hitting the man – who she says is much larger and was acting in an aggressive manner – before running to safety.



“His behaviour had become increasingly concerning, and I took my children to stay in a hotel for a week,” Dani previously told Guardian Australia. “The night I came home he turned to stand over me aggressively and verbally assault me a few centimetres from my face and that’s when I knew I was in danger.



“I was scared for my safety. I hit him and ran, put the kitchen bench between us, and froze. I am half his size. The police frame it like it was a fair fight.”



Dani said in statements to the police that her former partner claimed he would “burn the fucking house down”. She says he threw the petrol on to her chest, and that it splashed into her face and hair.



“After deliberately hunting for the fuel in the garage, he ran into the house, ripped the top of the fuel container, swung his arm and doused me, before reaching for the lighter,” she said.



“He bent down and held it to my feet, looking up into my eyes.”

Dani told police, and later the court, she believed at the time the man would kill her.

In a letter to the Crime and Corruption Commission to complain about the police response, van der Weegen said the investigation had been “heavily reliant on the evidence of the offender … and almost entirely dismissive of my client’s complaint”.



“[Police claimed] that his intention is to burn the house down [rather than commit a violence offence], notwithstanding that my client is present and in the house.”

Queensland police will have to compensate domestic violence victim as appeal denied Read more

Van der Weegen said police had clearly failed Dani.

“I should not have been doing [the prosecution],” he said. “It was the police that let her down. They need to take a long hard look at themselves, their culture, their training and especially their response to incidents involving trauma.”

Dani said she would lobby for reform of police practices, including for police to conduct assessments for lethal risk in all domestic violence complaints.

“My case highlights the fact that there still exists within the police a culture where domestic violence is not taken as seriously as other crime. If I had been assaulted in public in this way I believe the response would have been completely different,” she said.

In response, police said domestic violence was an “insidious crime” and that “all appropriate action” was taken immediately in relation to the incident.

“Police attended this incident shortly after it had occurred and action was taken that same day through the provisions of the Domestic and Family Violence Act,” the statement said.

“The QPS was aware of the allegations and circumstances and took appropriate action on the night to ensure the safety of the aggrieved whilst also ensuring the perpetrator was held to account for his actions.

“A member of the community has the right to commence private prosecutions and civil actions where appropriate.”

* Name has been changed.