A woman who was stopped by police in Ballarat for not wearing a bicycle helmet died less than 24 hours later in police custody.
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At a directions hearing in the Coroner's Court in Melbourne on Thursday morning, the first details surrounding the death of Louise Jean Dean were revealed.
Ms Dean, 50, was found unresponsive in her cell at the Ballarat police station on August 27 this year, and died despite repeated attempts at rescusciation.
The official cause of death is still being investigated, but it's understood she died of natural causes.
A summary was read to the court regarding Ms Dean's last 24 hours and the circumstances that led to her being stopped by police.
Ms Dean was residing at a guest house in Ballarat after earlier incidents led to her leaving her home - she was charged with making threats to kill and failing to appear at court in April.
According to the summary, Ms Dean was stopped by police while she was riding without a helmet, and a check of her name in the police database revealed several warrants for her arrest.
She was taken into custody, with CCTV showing her appearing calm and compliant, the summary states.
She was charged with failing to appear on bail and riding without a helmet, to appear at the Magistrates' Court the following day.
While she made no mention to police or custody officers regarding pre-existing medical conditions, it's now understood she had previously sought medical assistance for migraines.
She did complain to custody officers through the night of a headache, and requested painkillers, which she received about every four hours as directed.
However, at 9am on August 27, CCTV shows her going back to the mattress in her cell, pulling a blanket over her head, and shifting about 10 minutes later.
When custody officers checked in on her at 9.22am, she was unresponsive, and emergency services were called.
She was pronounced deceased at 10.40am.
"Key avenues in the investigation include whether the deceased had pre-existing medical conditions connected with her death, what she communicated to those responsible for her welfare, and the nature of any symptoms she experienced, the adequacy of medical management, and if the death was preventable," lawyer Samantha Brown stated.
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"(The deceased) was in police custody at time of death, (and) it may be that an inquest is required - even if it was due to natural causes and an inquest is not required, may be appropriate to investigate some issues by inquest."
The hearing was attended by the investigating officer from the Homicide Squad, independent of Ballarat police; a representative from the Chief Commissioner's Office for oversight; and a member of Ms Dean's family.
Coroner Caitlin English adjourned the matter to March, and offered her sincere condolences to Ms Dean's family.
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