According to the results of an inquiry into the woman’s death, she was discovered in her home with severe head injuries; she was mute and seemed to have her lips sealed shut.
Several weeks after being found conscious in her Pottsville house in northern NSW on October 10, 2020, 44-year-old Elizabeth Britton passed away in the hospital.
An inquiry is trying to figure out whether her injuries were from an attack or an accident, and no one has been charged with her death yet.
During today’s inquiry, first-responding paramedic Jamie Cameron of the New South Wales Ambulance Service said that he observed a “external sticky residue” surrounding the severely injured woman’s lips.
He described Britton as “generally terrified” and physically trembling, symptoms typical of someone who has just gone through a severe incident.
“I think he has glued her lips together,” an elderly man who had previously been named as Christopher Kendrick—Britton’s son’s father—allegedly informed responders at the scene. She is mute.
After Cameron asked Britton, “Did he glue your lips together?”
she nodded, according to Cameron.
The paramedic’s question, “Can you tell me who did this to you?” prompted her to shake her head in disapproval.
Additionally present were Britton’s son and his girlfriend, who remarked, “it was her boyfriend; he always does this and leaves,” according to Cameron.
“The paramedic stated,” When Britton asked her, “Did your boyfriend do this to you?” she nodded in agreement.
A possible case of domestic abuse prompted the subsequent call to the police.
When testing was done later, Cameron informed the inquiry that he knew Britton’s lips had no glue.
According to the inquest, paramedics routinely removed Britton from the area and repositioned the ambulance across the corner before proceeding with treatment whenever there was a potential risk.
“I had a suspicion based on the information that was provided to me on scene, that a potentially violent person could be returning,” said Cameron.
“So I thought it would be prudent to move ourselves and the patient away from that.”
Anthony Siganto, Britton’s ex-partner and a person of interest, was previously heard at the inquest as having an abusive and violent relationship.
When questioned whether Siganto had attacked Britton, her son and mother both claim she nodded in consent.
According to Phil Hogan, an attorney for the inquest, Siganto stated that he last saw Britton around 1.5 weeks prior to the incident in which she was injured.