Cairns mother, Krystel Paul, had 'packed her bags' to leave before being shot to death by husband in tragic murder-suicide
Krystel, 41, was shot to death by her husband, James Paul, on Tuesday night, before he turned the gun on himself.
The horrifying deaths made headlines earlier this week when it was revealed the couple's 10-year-old daughter was instructed by her dad to run from the home and call her grandmother to say her mother had died.
The little girl fled the home to her neighbour's house moments before gunshots rang out.
The neighbours dialled Triple-0 and police arrived at the Mount Sheridan home to find the couple's bodies in the bathroom and main room of the house.
Award-winning journalist and prominent advocate against violence toward women and children, Sherele Moody, received a message from a friend of Krystel, who revealed the beloved mother had packed her and her daughters' belongings into the boot of the car and was just moments away from fleeing when she was violently killed.
Ms Moody, founder of the Australian Femicide Watch - which tracks every known case of Australian women and children killed due to murder, manslaughter, or neglect - pointed to the tragic new details as a stark reminder of why women in domestic violence situations so often struggle to report abuse or leave.
'Krystel Paul had packed her bags, put them in the boot of her car and was walking out the door,' she posted on X.
'He shot her to death.
'This is why women don't report. This is why women don't leave.
'Most women don't leave because they know he'll try to kill them'.
Ms Moody's foundation lists Krystel as the 31st Australian woman killed this year and the 134th lost to violence since January 1, 2024.
The mother owned a bridal boutique in the Cairns CBD and has been remembered as a quiet and gentle person who will be deeply missed.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cairns Police Detective Acting Inspector Alina Bell confirmed her 10-year-old daughter left her family's home just moments before her parents died.
She also revealed the young girl had been 'alerted to the incident occurring' before she reached out for help from a neighbour.
Mount Sheridan resident Danna Lancini told the Courier Mail: 'I had to comfort her last night because she told me that her mum was dead".
'(The girl) said 'my dad sent me here because she's dead'," Ms Lancini said.
'(My husband) heard the two, 'bang, bang', and then the daughter was on our front door.
'The two shots must have been when she was running.'
Police have asked anyone with information or relevant footage in the area to come forward as investigations remain ongoing.
You can support Ms Moody's foundation for women and children lost to violence at: https://australianfemicidewatch.org/support/
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In what amounts to a portrait of the tour, Curthoys emphasises its many facets, especially its political side, Robeson being a Marxist who made his support of the USSR well known; a political stance that led to his and his wife's passports being revoked. Apart from the music, the Robesons were deeply interested in Indigenous and women's rights movements in Australia and New Zealand. Along the way, we learn about Robeson's studies and reading, Robeson being the only African American at Rutgers in 1915. First-rate cultural, political and social history. This series of dispatches from the battlefront of ambulance duty comes layered with grim humour, but as former journalist and ambo driver Tim Booth explains, it's a way of coping with the drama and sheer absurdity that can come with the job. Take Darlene and Fluffy. After being called by a neighbour, Tim and a workmate enter the stench of Darlene's flat and find her, barely conscious, cradling the rotting Fluffy. It's clear Darlene's not going anywhere without the pet, and so they wind up taking a dead cat to emergency. Other cases are just plain gripping, such as a car crashing through a clothing shop window, leaving a teenage girl critically injured. But, even here, the absurd is not far away – the site strewn with confusing, life-like mannequins. Other anecdotes include the time a young woman called 000 for a broken toenail. Collectively, they paint a darkly comic picture of a system stretched to its limit (in this case, NSW), that is also dealing with the absurdities of all-too-human foibles. Blamey Brent D. Taylor ABC Books, $36.99 In what became something of a controversial address, General Blamey (commander-in-chief of Australian military forces in WWII) spoke to troops who had just seen action in New Guinea in 1942, the rumour spreading afterwards that he had said they ran like 'rabbits'. 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