A Victorian woman who was violently assaulted by her ex-partner is suing the supplier of a personal safety device, claiming her repeated requests to “please help me” went unanswered.
The woman, who only wants to be known as Peta, 52, says in court documents that she obtained a security surveillance from Commsync Alert in August 2021 after several incidents of family violence at the hands of her ex, Jason Richards.
He was told the device would notify nominated people, as well as Queensland-based security provider Back2Base Monitoring, if he was in danger.
Nominees could call triple zero directly by pressing “five” on their keyboard, while the company had to notify Peta’s family violence service provider, who would then call the police if necessary.
Peta, 52, is suing Commsync Alert, a security monitoring provider that she says gave her a false sense of security after she alleged her device malfunctioned during an attack in October 2021.
After repeated incidents with her ex, Jason Richards, local police and a counselor urged Peta to use the safety device known as the StandbyU Shield (pictured).
At approximately 11pm on October 17, 2021, Richards, who had five previous intervention orders to protect Peta, went to her home uninvited and assaulted her by covering her mouth with duct tape and attempting to suffocate her with a pillow.
He also knelt on her throat and tried to hang a rope around her neck, but she was able to fight him off.
Richards committed suicide the next day.
The attack lasted about five hours, and Peta pressed the alert on her watch three times and used the audio recording function to say, “please help me.”
Back2Base was allegedly notified each time and should have contacted the family violence support service or Victoria Police when Peta did not respond to its checks.
Between 11pm and 4.30am, three requests for help from Peta were never referred to the police and Back2Base never contacted her directly because Richards took possession of her phone.
The previous intervention orders were issued against Richards between February and October 2021.
Local police and a counselor from the Mallee sexual assault unit urged Peta to use the safety device known as the StandbyU Shield..
In a statement of claim filed in Victoria County Court in March, Peta said she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and anxiety as a result of the attack.
She is seeking damages and costs from Commsync and Back2Base, claiming they failed to take reasonable care of her.
Richards, who had been given five previous intervention orders to protect Peta, went to her home uninvited and assaulted her for five hours, the court heard.
Peta claims the two companies should have contacted police if they received the surveillance alerts and she did not respond.
“I thought this was supposed to save my life, I thought I would be safe,” Peta said.
“But the only way I stopped him from killing me was by putting my finger in his eye when he was trying to suffocate me.”
His lawyer Aki Munir, a senior associate at Arnold Thomas & Becker, claimed the watch gave his client a false sense of security.
“The failures associated with (the watch) had dire consequences,” he said.
“Peta’s trauma was unnecessary and preventable.”
Gary Rushton, CEO of Back2Base, told AAP he could not comment on the case as it was before the Victoria County Court.
Moray & Agnew partner Jeremy Peck, who is representing Commsync in the process, was also contacted for comment.
A defense statement filed on behalf of Commsync Alert alleged that Back2Base Monitoring was not allowed to contact police when Peta did not respond to its phone calls, as set out in national police alarm response guidelines.
‘Back2Base logs from October 17, 2021 and October 18, 2021 record that Back2Base monitored the audio around the StandbyU Shield used by the plaintiff and recorded “could hear a couple talking normally”, “no one was talking, could hear background movement” and “very little conversation. – general conversation,” Commsync Alert’s defense said.
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