Mother seeks court orders to force inquest into daughter's death in Kakadu National Park

A Queensland woman's mother has taken the Northern Territory Supreme Court to task, seeking to overturn the coroner's decision not to hold an inquest into her daughter's death. Jessica Stephens, 35, passed away in 2023 after receiving mental health treatment at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH).

Ms. Stephens had gone missing for almost a week before her remains were discovered on Burrungkuy Rock in Kakadu National Park. Her mother, Karon Evans, reported her missing on October 18, 2023, after her daughter had travelled from her home in the Whitsundays to Darwin and then on to Kakadu following her discharge from hospital.

"I know she wasn't very well when they discharged her, but they deemed her well enough to be discharged," Ms. Evans said. "She's obviously just decided to go on to where she was going but we haven't … heard from her since."

In documents filed with the NT Supreme Court last month, Ms. Evans claims that Coroner Elisabeth Armitage formally declined to hold an inquest into her daughter's death in February this year. However, Ms. Evans disputes this decision, citing a lack of available or disclosed material from Queensland Health, Queensland Mental Health Tribunal, and Queensland Child Safety at the time of the coroner's investigation.

The documents state that there were "conflicting statements" between the coronial findings and the deputy coroner's refusal letter regarding what records were obtained. Ms. Evans also alleges that NT Health's own findings, detailed in the coroner's report, showed that the health department "did not follow its own policy and procedures in Jessica's discharge."

"[The] compressed time frames from when the Coroner received the final root cause analysis on the 4th [of] February, 2026 concerning discharge, accommodation and continuity of care failures, raises serious questions [about] if the coroner was able to give a fully and properly considered report before the refusal was given," the documents read.

Ms. Evans is seeking a declaration that her daughter's death "ought properly to have been treated as a death occurring while in care", triggering a mandatory inquest, or otherwise that the Supreme Court use its discretionary powers to order an inquest regardless.

"The public interest requires a full, independent examination," the documents state.

Judge Armitage's office has yet to file a defence to the lawsuit. NT Health has been contacted for comment.