Three years after her son was shot during a mental health episode, 82-year-old Judy Deacon led the cross-examination in the coroner’s court

Three years ago, Judy Deacon’s son was fatally shot dead by police after he was reported to be self-harming. She has since become one of the state’s loudest voices for change in how police respond to mental health incidents.

Over the past week, in the long-awaited coronial inquest, answers to lingering questions over decisions made in the lead-up to 43-year-old Jesse Deacon’s death started to crystallise as health workers, police, and the officer who fired the fatal shot, took the witness stand.

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