‘Won’t help you’: Cop’s sickening remark to domestic violence survivor over horror strangulation

EXCLUSIVE

Michelle Faye had never heard the term “cop-shopping” until a police officer gruffly uttered it to her in early 2021.

The Gold Coast mother was following up about a 90-minute audio recording she had provided several months earlier, which depicted her estranged husband Daniel Gregory Mctiernan repeatedly assaulting and strangling her.

She believed the horrifying evidence of her potentially life-threatening ordeal – one of many she endured – would finally prompt police to act, following about 20 interactions with officers that had led nowhere and kept her and her family living in danger.

But for months, police sat on that audio clip while Mctiernan remained free in the community, terrorising and stalking her.

Ms Faye hoped to find a sympathetic ear on the other end of the phone when she contacted police in January 2021. Instead, the officer concluded it was her word against his and no further action would be taken.

“And then he told me that ‘cop-shopping’ wouldn’t help me,” Ms Faye recalled. “I now know that police view ‘cop-shopping’ as someone who goes from officer to officer, or station to station, until they get what they want. It’s a derogatory and belittling term used to describe someone who police view as a nuisance.”

Ms Faye hadn’t been “shopping” her story around. The attacks either occurred at different parts of the Gold Coast or she had gone to stations away from home when help wasn’t at hand locally.

“For me, it was trying to find somebody to actually do their job. To them, I was being deceitful or manipulative. It was disgusting. It was very aggressive. It was the first time I really realised how much damage the police were doing to me and my family,” she said.

“I hadn’t heard the term before. But when he said it, I felt absolutely awful. It felt like he was saying to be that no-one believed me, no-one was going to help me. Like, go away. You’re annoying us. It was intimidating.”

In her mind, the remark sent a “clear message” about how the police viewed her and the ongoing domestic and family violence she was telling them about.

“I was a hassle and a nuisance, taking up their time.”

The only positive interaction Ms Faye had with police came after she begged her local MP for help, who intervened and escalated the matter to the highest levels.

Swiftly, after several terrifying years, a Criminal Investigation Branch detective was assigned to the case and Mctiernan was arrested and charged with multiple serious offences.

He pleaded guilty to 16 offences earlier this year, including strangulation and multiple counts of assault, and will be sentenced in December.

Much of that legal outcome was thanks to the original 90-minute audio recording that police initially dismissed.

Brushed off and ignored

For almost four years between 2017 and 2021, Ms Faye had about 20 interactions with police seeking protection from the escalating violence, threats and stalking Mctiernan was subjecting her to.

“Lots of different stations and officers. Basically all of my interactions with police were really poor. It was begging for help, it was being told to not worry about it and just carry on,” she said.

“There were occasions where even with evidence and even when there was a domestic violence order in place, they decided not to charge.

“Instead of allowing the courts to decide whether or not he was guilty, the police would decide. It would be a case of, oh no, this was his excuse and we accept it, even though there were protection orders. It was really poor.”

In news.com.au’s new editorial series The System, the first-hand accounts of survivors of domestic and family violence are being shared to highlight the serious failings they endure when seeking help and support. From the police to government agencies and taxpayer-funded support services, major gaps leave survivors exposed to further harm – and can cost lives.

Ms Faye, now an advocate for women fleeing domestic and family violence, has heard her own experiences with the system repeated to her by other survivors countless times.

She knows her case isn’t an isolated one. She hasn’t slipped through the cracks in the system, but rather plunged through gaping holes.

While she feels let down by many elements of the system, including Queensland Health and Education Queensland, the most serious harm was inflicted by police, she said.

“The kids would call, I would call, or a neighbour would call. Whoever. The police would show up, look around, take down some information and then leave.

“There were multiple times when it was clear I was in danger. It was obvious from holes in walls and all that kind of stuff.”

Do you have a story to share about the broken system? Email shannon.molloy@news.com.au

Ms Faye’s long list of poor experiences with police makes for shocking reading.

When Mctiernan rammed her car with his, as she tried to flee him, it was Ms Faye who was detained for questioning, before being sent home with her abusive husband.

When she went to police following a serious assault that involved prolonged strangulation, Ms Faye wasn’t offered medical attention, but instead told to go home. Officers later served Mctiernan with a protection order at the family’s home, in front of her.

“My statement was attached to the order, so he could see what I’d told police about him. All that did was infuriate him,” she recalled.

“They provoked him and then left me alone with him. They lobbed a bomb and walked away. The police were still in the driveway when he took the order and slammed it into my face. He busted my nose.”

One of her adult children was confronted by Mctiernan in the street. When he went to police for help, an officer “recognised our surname” and suggested he should “just get on with your life”, Ms Faye said.

“One of the most notable times was after we separated when there was a car idling out the front of my home late at night,” Ms Faye said.

“It had been sitting there for quite some time. It reversed, the lights went off, but I knew it was still there. It was caught on the security cameras.

“I called the police and they told me they’d have somebody out to see me. They never turned up and I laid in bed all night, very, very frightened.

“I followed up the next day and I was told that they did turn up and that the gates were shut. I didn’t have gates at my house. They’d turned up to the wrong house and they determined it looked peaceful, so they left.”

‘Not worth the paper they’re written on’

In all, Mctiernan was the subject of three domestic violence protection orders, and Ms Faye said they were breached multiple times.

“At least half a dozen,” she said. “But nothing was ever done. He has never faced court over a breach.”

For example, he abruptly showed up at a McDonald’s restaurant where his teenage daughter worked, contravening a no-contact order.

“He walked in one day. He lived 20 minutes away so there was no need for him to be there. My daughter was frightened and ran out the back and told her boss. For ages, he stood there waiting and looking around and then left without his order.

“That was a clear breach but the police felt that he meant no harm, he was just there getting a coffee. Even though he never took his coffee. It’s ridiculous.”

On another occasion, a family friend took one of the children shopping at the local Coles and they were confronted by Mctiernan, despite a no-contact protection order being in place.

“He can clearly be seen [on CCTV] stopping and talking to her, which was a breach of the order,” Ms Faye said. “They fled immediately and drove home. My daughter gets a call … he’s yelling about how I’m lying and not to believe me. That’s another breach, and it was recorded.

“There was plenty of evidence to charge him and secure a conviction. I went to the police and they arrested him. Weeks and weeks went by and I assumed it was working its way through the court system, but I hadn’t heard anything.”

Finally, Ms Faye managed to speak to the officer dealing with the investigation into that breach, who delivered crushing news.

“He said, ‘we f**ked up’. The arresting officer hadn’t done [something correctly]. It meant they’d kept him in the watch house for a night unlawfully, so they deleted to drop it and let him walk to avoid a mess.”

The fact he got away with the abuse and those breaches so many times “emboldened” him to escalate the violence, she believes.

“The fact he never faced any consequences, I think it empowered him to keep terrorising us.

“And the other side of it too is that if he had been charged with breaches, the offences that he’s now been convicted of would’ve been classed as aggravated. They would be dealt with more seriously. Instead, in the eyes of the court, they’re first offences.

“So, there are even wider consequences of the inaction of police. I believe the police have let him off in a monumental way.”

VERTICAL VIDEO

In March 2023, Ms Faye met with representatives from the Police Minister’s office and the Attorney-General’s office. She shared her story in full over two hours.

She was encouraged to make a complaint with the Ethical Standards Command, which she did.

“Since then, I haven’t heard a word from Ethical Standards. I contacted them two months ago asking for an update but got nothing back.”

News.com.au also asked Queensland Police about the status of the Ethical Standards complaint but did not receive a response.

After years of being let down, Ms Faye feels she is once again being ignored and pushed to the side, given she can’t get an update on the status of her complaint.

“I completely lost faith in the police. If I had to rely on the police now for something, anything, I don’t know if I’d bother calling them. I don’t trust them. I don’t trust that they can do their jobs properly.

“I felt totally abandoned. I felt overlooked and ignored and discarded. I was completely let down.”

‘I feared for my life’

After so many negative interactions with the police, Ms Faye said she was left feeling discarded and ignored.

“It was almost like nobody really cared. It was almost like we were a bother by being there.”

She made clear to police the seriousness of the worsening violence and her strong belief that Mctiernan would wind up murdering her, but it didn’t seem to move them, she said.

“I honestly believed he was going to kill me. He told me as much. All the time.

“He strangled me a lot. Sometimes I lost consciousness and when I woke, he would tell me that he had allowed me to live. He could’ve held on longer and killed me, but he decided not to.

“If he was angry, he would show me his hand and say: ‘With one hand, you’ll be dead.’”

In response to a number of points put to Queensland Police, a spokesperson said: “The Queensland Police Service has thoroughly investigated several incidents involving the individuals referenced, which involved ongoing case management of a domestic and family violence relationship.

“Where investigations identified evidence sufficient to support criminal proceedings, that action has been commenced.

“The QPS remains committed to ensuring the safety of all victims of domestic violence through a multidisciplinary approach to provide victim-centric, trauma-informed responses to DFV.”

News.com.au also put a number of points to the Queensland Government.

In response, a spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said: “The Queensland Government extends its deepest sympathies to the victim-survivor and to all other victim-survivors of domestic and family violence.

“The Queensland Government acknowledges that domestic and family violence can affect women of all ages and from all walks of life, and that it takes a whole-of-government approach to stop these crimes occurring and hold perpetrators to account.”

Share your story

News.com.au is sharing Ms Faye’s story to highlight the staggering and widespread inadequacies across government departments, agencies and taxpayer funded organisations.

As part of the series, we invite other survivors to come forward to share their own experiences – anonymously, if need be – of being failed by the system.

In publishing The System, news.com.au commits to shining a light on the inadequacies that can have severe and sometimes deadly consequences, holding powerbrokers to account and calling for change.