Officer tells inquest he gave Far North Qld man one second to drop knife before fatal shot

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image and name of a person who has died.

One second.

That is how long a police officer said it took to storm a bathroom, order twice for Aubrey Donahue to drop a knife and fire the shot that killed him.

The timeframe was at the centre of evidence given during a coronial inquest examining the 27-year-old’s death during a hostage situation in Mareeba on March 25, 2023.

Mr Donahue was fatally shot after police forced entry into a bathroom where he had locked himself and his partner, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The inquest is examining the factors leading up to his death, including the actions of police and negotiators, and the response to nearly two years’ worth of domestic violence reports.

Multiple officers have told the court that on arrival, their mission was to “save the hostage”.

In giving evidence today via video link, an officer known as SO147 said before he fatally shot Mr Donahue, he was positioned outside the bathroom while negotiators attempted to defuse the situation.

SO147 said everything changed when a negotiator suddenly adopted an “extremely heightened tone”.

“Basically he started screaming, ‘Don’t do it to her, don’t do it to her,'” SO147 told the inquest.

SO147 said a flash-bang device was deployed and another officer immediately breached the door.

He said he entered the small bathroom and saw Mr Donahue turning towards him with a knife raised in his right hand.

“I saw the knife that was in his right hand, I immediately called on him to drop the knife,” SO147 said.

The officer said he repeated the command, but by the time he finished speaking, he had released the trigger.

Mr Donahue was shot in the head and immediately stopped moving, the court heard.

The officer told the inquest the entire sequence — entering the room, issuing two commands and firing his weapon — happened within “one second” or less.

Command disputed

Mr Donahue’s partner previously told the court she never heard the officer yell “drop the knife”. 

SO147 said she may have experienced “auditory exclusion” because of the extreme stress and noise inside the bathroom.

“In the proximity that sound and flash device was thrown, I would expect no one would be able to hear basically anything,” he said.

During cross-examination, Gerard Mullins KC, representing Mr Donahue’s family, challenged the officer’s version of events and how it could all occur within one second.

“I suggest to you that you did not say, ‘Drop the knife’ at all,” Mr Mullins KC said.

“There might have been some movement with the right hand, but there was no movement towards you with the knife and he stood largely still as he turned around.”

SO147 rejected the suggestion and said, “I can’t believe you’re actually saying that.”

“There was no chance that he was standing still and that I would shoot someone for standing still,” SO147 said.

The inquest has previously heard none of the Special Emergency Response Team officers recalled hearing the exact words “drop the knife”.

However, several officers who were inside the home told the court this week they recalled hearing something shouted into the bathroom moments before the shot was fired.

Lack of support in the region

SO147 also told the inquest he felt “victimised” by an under-resourced Queensland Police Service, which he claimed failed to support him after the shooting.

“Given how they stepped away, immediately stepped away, and wanted nothing to do with this,” he said.

He said Far North Queensland police had about half the officers required and routinely needed to work long hours while on call.

He said officers were regularly being flown in from Brisbane to fill gaps in staffing at a “huge cost” to the community.