Mother of three, Zahra Abrahimzadeh, 44, was stabbed to death on front of her children and 300 horrified onlookers at a Persian community function in Adelaide in 2010 by her estranged husband Ziaolleh Abrahimdazeh.
The Afghani man’s arranged marriage to his Iranian wife was beset with violence from its earliest days, with evidence of beatings and death threats which escalated when Zahra sought a divorce her husband feared would financially ruin him.
Ziaolleh Abrahimzadeh was granted permission to attend the Persian New Year event and attempted to sit at the same table as his estranged wife despite a long history of violence against his wife and children, and a restraining order against him.
As his wife and children moved to leave, Abrahimzadeh produced a knife and stabbed her repeatedly in the chest.
He is now serving a life sentence of at least 26 years in prison.
The coroner has described the repeated failure to arrest Abrahimdazeh in the years leading up to her murder as “appalling”.
He was so disappointed with police that he directed his inquest recommendations not to the Police Commissioner, but the Premier in the hope it would prompt genuine reform of the policing system.
Deputy Commissioner Grant Stevens concedes that had the police acted the murder might not have occurred.
"I don’t think I’ve ever hidden from the fact that our service in this particular case was appalling. I used different words during the coroner’s inquest but certainly that was the sentiment that was being conveyed.
"We didn't do a good enough job and whilst we may never know whether or not the failures on the part of South Australia police directly led to the death of Zahra, we can be sure that those failures provided a degree of impunity for Ziaolleh to actually take the course of action that he did."
Mr Stevens admits police failed the family on multiple occasions and says the officers involved have been punished.
Police have already begun the process of improving their management of domestic violence cases.
Premier Jay Weatherill says whilst the traditional separation of powers means he can’t direct the Police Commissioner, he can and will ensure the Coroner’s recommendations are acted on.
He has committed to a state strategy against domestic violence to change the culture that allows pervasive violence against mainly women and children.
“What we know is that it proceeds in many cases from the erroneous assumption that men have some property rights over women and we see these things commonly expressed in the break up of a relationship, or when women are not prepared to behave as the personal property of men.
"This is a massive cultural issue in our community. It lies at the heart of domestic violence and so that is why I am accepting responsibility to respond on this basis – not because it doesn’t involve issues associated with the police, but it involves many more things than just the conduct of police.”
Some 10,000 domestic violence incidents are reported in South Australia each year. The Abrahimzadeh case is the latest in a series of shocking failures across Australia to protect women from violent partners.
Pallavi Sinha of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils says women from diverse backgrounds are most vulnerable and need greater protection.
“I’m acutely aware of the difficulties that women from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds experience, such as socio-economic disadvantage.
"They may have language barriers, they may have lower literacy levels and a lot of them don’t have an awareness of their rights, of Australian social values, of the law , support networks and where to get help.“
She says independent analysis puts the economic cost of domestic violence at some $14 billion dollars a year, while the human cost equates to 1 in 3 women experiencing physical violence and an average of one woman dying every week at the hands of her current or ex-partner.
To that end, she welcomes the federal government’s recent commitment to spend $100 million over four years to reduce violence against women and children.
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