She never stood a chance.
Trigger warning: This post deals with domestic violence.
Karina Lock had left her husband before.
Packing up the four kids and fleeing the violence, the drug taking, the control.
But this time it was for good. She was planning a divorce, she was starting a new life and she had taken the bold step of moving from the town of Maryborough — where they had lived for 16 years — to the Gold Coast.
Yesterday she arranged to meet her husband to discuss the divorce. She left their teenage daughter in the care of her sister and went to Helensvale McDonalds, near Movie World on the Gold Coast, to meet Stephen Lock.
In the past, the meetings had involved him begging and pleading for her to return, promising to change. Think of the kids.
But this time she was resolute about the divorce, friends say. They had sold the house. She had moved on.
But witnesses say she never stood a chance.
Lock, 57, had a gun.
He was allegedly seen restraining his wife in his car before she made an escape.
Witnesses have told of how 49-year-old Karina came tearing into the restaurant screaming he was trying to kill her.
They also report seeing him shoot the terrified woman in front of 30 people before turning the gun on himself.
First on the scene were police and paramedics.
The next to arrive was the teenage daughter of Karina and Steve, along with her Aunt.
The young teenager stood just metres away from where her mother lay dead and her father lay with a bullet to his brain – still alive, but only just.
It was the third family violence death on the Gold Coast in just four days.
On Monday, a six-year0old girl found dead in her bed, her father arrested and charged with her murder. On Tuesday, the Gold Coast mother-of-one Tara Brown was allegedly beaten to death at the hands of her ex-partner, who has now been charged with her murder.
Related: Lisa Wilkinson: “Don’t let Tara’s death go unnoticed.”
And now, Karina Lock is dead.
It’s a catastrophe of epic proportions – an out of control epidemic that slogans and jargons and rhetoric won’t change.
What needs to change is the culture of male violence.
Karina Lock had endured years of abuse from her husband Steve Lock.
Her family refer to it on their Facebook pages, one blithely dismissing it as “psychological,” one close family member writing: “The only domestic violence was psychological from both involved. All I see from most is little understanding from most. You all know nothing.. 1 sided stories are not truth.”
He continues:
Another, the brother of Steve Lock, wrote in the early hours of this morning:
“My brother took his and his beautiful wife’s life today. I mourn the loss of a beautiful lady and a brother who lost his way. I know their children will live with this tragedy all their lives, and that hurts so much. I can’t begin to explain the devastation I feel inside, if god exists and I doubt he does, he has played a cruel hand today. For those who feel badly toward my brother, I say keep it to yourself or I will deal with you in person. I will not tolerate anyone hanging shit on him ever. He is my brother and I love him dearly, just as I do Karina.”
But friends have detailed the years of domestic abuse, saying it was well known.
According to The Gold Coast Bulletin: “Once, police arrived on the doorstep. The couple’s youngest daughter was frightened. Dad had been violent, she told the policewoman.”
Friends have spoken to the media saying that Karina Lock stayed with her husband due to her religious beliefs.
A strong Jehovah’s Witness, she had stayed “ for the children”.
“He would take marijuana all the time to make him feel more normal. It made him worse, it made him violent,” one friend told The Gold Coast Bulletin.
“That was one of their arguments because she kept telling him to get off it. He used to yell. He was not nice. That went on for years and years.
“He believed that the law was there to be broken and he did his very best to do that.”
The friend continued: “She left him a couple of times and she went down to her parents (interstate) with the kids — just up and went, left everything.
“Of course he hounded her and promised he was going to change. Eventually he just reverted back all the time.”
Finally Mrs Lock, a mother of four children – two adult boys and two teenage girls — realised enough was enough.
But Steve Lock was not letting her escape.
A witness to the her murder said yesterday: “He was going to kill her. It was as simple as that. There was no expression on his face whatsoever. He didn’t care if there were 10 people or 100 people in there — he just didn’t care.”
She didn’t stand a chance.
Her teenager daughter posted a simple, but heartbreaking tribute to her mum.
It is expected Steve Lock’s life support will be turned off today.
If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.
Top Comments
The comments from Locks family are very disturbing, perpetrators of Domestic Violence (PODV) Often use religion and cherry picked bible verses to control their victims by inducing guilt, with many fundamentalist types placing women in the subservient, you must obey your husband no matter what. The men always blame someone else, She wouldn't have left if other people minded their own business, she wouldn't leave of her own choice, someone else talked her into it, "those Lesbian man haters at the women's/crisis/counseling centre brain washed you" hands up who has heard that before. My F-I-L beat his wife for 40 years, His son Beat me & STILL no one in his family would admit that he had a serious problem with VIOLENCE, they blamed everything from booze, work stress, money troubles, to ME, one arse hat even said to me, after seeing my first black eye "you must have said something to deserve that". I reported my ex many times for breaching one of many AVOs, he stalked me for over a year after we separated & I was afraid for my own life and that of my children, but the law said he had a right to spend time alone with the kids, even though much of that time was spent following me around, he always threatened to kill me if I tried to leave him, and he almost made good on that threat, It was his Third conviction for violence against me and STILL he did not go to jail. The only thing that kept me alive was HIS fear of what would happen to HIM if he ended up in prison. a young police officer quietly said to me after yet another court appearance, "If I was you I would just disappear, pack only what you need put the kids in the car and just go", in hind sight I really wish I had done that.
We must move forward against all domestic violence, don't let us go quiet once these terrible episodes go off the front pages. The talk fest has to be over, strong action is needed. This is not just a police problem, once someone is reported in a domestic violence issue, they must be seen by the whole community as dangerous. If they act out after an AVO has been issued then they must go to jail. No one should stand by when family members are being violated, whether it is caused by mental illness, drugs, alcohol or just plain anger. I survived domestic violence but paid a terrible price all my life.