An inquest into the violent death of Dannielle Finlay-Jones has heard of systemic failures in the system used to assess convicted criminals for the risk they pose of re-offending.
The 31-year-old was beaten to death in the bedroom of her friend's house in Cranebrook in western Sydney after a Christmas night out in 2022.
She had been on a third date with her alleged killer, Ashley Gaddie, who she met on dating app Bumble.
Gaddie died in custody 16 months later, before the matter went to trial.
There is no credible evidence anyone other than Gaddie was involved in Ms Finlay-Jones's death, counsel assisting Donna Ward SC said as a week-long inquest began on Monday.
Gaddie's long history of domestic violence was outlined on Monday as Ms Ward revealed numerous women had made reports about his abusive behaviour before Ms Finlay-Jones's death.
"One cannot understand the manner of Dannielle's death without understanding Ashley Gaddie's broader history of intimate partner violence," Ms Ward said.
Five separate former partners of Gaddie had protection orders against him, including two active orders when he killed the 31-year-old, the coroner heard.
Violent acts including destroying property, sexual touching without consent and putting pressure on the necks of women during sex had been reported by Gaddie's former partners.
A community corrections officer who assessed Gaddie as low-risk of reoffending in 2021 was questioned about his process.
Kenneth Stevenson said sentencing assessment reports about offenders did not include expired protection orders related to other women, because they were not criminal convictions.
But those related to the relevant victim were included.
Despite not flagging Gaddie as worthy of increased monitoring, Stevenson told the court the man was dismissive of his offences, which included ripping out chunks of a former partner's hair and holding her throat.Â
Gaddie was under a community corrections order when Ms Finlay-Jones met him online.
She believed she had met someone also committed to a long-term relationship, Ms Ward said.
"Contrary to the impression he had given, Gaddie was still dating and having sex with other women," Ms Ward said.
While the inquest was not a "court of morals", Ms Ward said online dating posed unique privacy and safety risks when people with bad intentions were able to hide them.
"Anyone can curate or even entirely invent a personality," Ms Ward said.
Ms Finlay-Jones's mother Jacky, brother Blake and lifelong friend Irene were among the family and supporters in court to hear the circumstances leading up to the tragedy.
Her family have campaigned for better monitoring of domestic violence offenders for nearly four years since her death, their barrister Christopher Mitchell said.
"Their ultimate hope ... is (the inquest) will help defeat the scourge of intimate partner violence and may prevent another family from suffering a similar loss," Mr Mitchell told State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan.
"Your ultimate hope is my ultimate hope too," Judge O'Sullivan, the convenor of the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team, told the family.
The football lover was a life member of her local club, Ramsgate RSL in southern Sydney.
All matches in the St George Football Association observed a moment of silence before kick-off at the weekend as a mark of respect for the start of the inquest.
The inquest is also expected to examine failures of multiple community corrections offices to adequately monitor Gaddie in the year leading up to Ms Finlay-Jones's death.
He was charged with further domestic violence offences six months before he killed Ms Finlay-Jones.
But those charges did not result in orders to increase supervision, Ms Ward said.
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