Police failed to act on repeated warnings about a violent man before he killed a toddler. But that’s not the most shocking thing about this case

The Mason Lee case was not an anomaly. Queensland’s police and coronial systems work as designed – and that’s the core of the current crisis

Nine months before the death of the toddler Mason Jet Lee, a woman called police to warn them about the boy’s killer, William Andrew O’Sullivan. They placed a flag on his file labelling the woman’s claims “vexatious”. But that’s not the most shocking part of this story.

Police already had evidence O’Sullivan was suicidal and homicidal. Months earlier they’d gone with him to a hospital, seeking mental health treatment, and while there he threatened to “skin” the woman and kill children. But that’s also not the most alarming thing.