The death of a Ballarat man who took his own life in Brisbane after killing and cooking his Indonesian partner was unavoidable, an inquest has heard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Before moving to Brisbane, Mr Volke had lived in Haddon and attended Ballarat High School.
During closing submissions in the Brisbane Coroners Court on Tuesday, counsel assisting the coroner, Emily Cooper, said the evidence was clear Marcus Volke killed transgender escort Mayang Prasetyo before slashing himself in an industrial bin while evading police.
She said police were called to the unit Volke shared with Ms Prasetyo, 27, at Teneriffe on the night of October 4, 2014 after receiving reports of a foul smell.
Volke asked officers to wait outside so he could put the dogs away, and then fled the unit through another door or window.
When police entered the unit they found some of Ms Prasetyo's remains in a black garbage bag left in the couple's washing machine, while her feet were protruding from a stock pot on the kitchen floor, next to a pool of blood.
Police and the dog squad searched the surrounding streets and found Volke in an industrial bin a short time later.
The court heard at least one of the officers drew his firearm, and Volke took his own life.
Senior Sergeant Sean McKay told the court on Tuesday he arrived as police were tipping the bin over to retrieve Volke, who had already inflicted fatal injuries on himself.
He said officers carried out CPR but "it was pretty apparent that he was deceased and it wasn't going to help".
Ms Cooper said the coroner would be satisfied Volke's death was unavoidable and the actions of attending police were "authorised, justified and supported" by law.
"It's clear that there was no misconduct displayed by any of the officers involved," she said.
"There was nothing further that they could have done at the time."
Coroner Terry Ryan will hand down his findings on Friday.
Lifeline 13 11 14