Man arrested after woman’s burned body found in backyard
Police at the scene after the discovery of the woman's body on Tuesday. Photo: AAP
The burned body of a woman has been found in the backyard of a Gold Coast home and police have arrested a seriously injured man nearby.
Officers are treating the woman’s death as a homicide, and possibly an act of domestic violence, that may have been witnessed by three young children.
Tuesday’s grim discovery comes after Brisbane mum Hannah Clarke, 31, was doused with petrol and set alight by her estranged husband while in her car with her three children in February 2020. All four died of their injuries.
Queensland Police were called to the Spikes Court residence in Arundel at 6.40am on Tuesday to conduct a welfare check after neighbours reported raised voices coming from the home.
The woman’s body was found in the backyard. Forensic police are examining the area and a crime scene has been declared.
A semi-conscious man with burn injuries was found on the front lawn of a house about two blocks away.
He was taken to the Gold Coast University Hospital under police guard and is undergoing medical treatment.
“One of the lines of inquiry that we are following is that the male person we located and the deceased female person were known to each other, and potentially in a previous relationship,” Detective Inspector Chris Ahearn said.
“He has some burns to his hands area, and we believe he also might have some internal burns in his airway.”
Three children all under the age of nine were found at the house.
Police said they were safe and would be interviewed as part of the investigation.
Police were also speaking with local residents and had stopped rubbish collections because potential evidence might have been dumped in a bin.
“We’re canvassing residents in that area to get a better determination of that residence and who lives there and what the movements were there this morning,” Detective Inspector Ahearn said.
“Our intention is to lock down that area and conduct a good examination of that whole area to determine if there’s any evidence from this matter that has been removed from the area, from that scene, from their residence.”
Detective Inspector Ahearn said gathering the forensic evidence would be a painstaking process.
Police are not yet seeking anyone else in relation to the investigation.
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-AAP
