The mother of the man who last saw Queensland woman Kirra-Lea McLoughlin alive has told an inquest her son was violent with several of his partners, including Ms McLoughlin, and that "it was the norm".
An expert neurosurgeon also told the Gympie District Court that it was "highly unlikely" the information told to police about the cause of Ms McLoughlin's injuries was correct or enough to cause her death.
Ms McLoughlin died from a traumatic brain injury in July 2014.
A post-mortem examination located 105 bruises between her neck and ankles.
No-one has ever been charged in relation to her death.
Ms McLoughlin's former de facto partner and his sister initially told police the 27-year-old was punched in the face during a gathering at her Wolvi property, causing her to fall and hit her head.
'Highly unlikely' death caused by fall
But an expert neurosurgeon cast doubt over those claims at the inquest today.
Terry Coyne said it was "exceptionally rare" in the medical world for such "trivial" types of impact to kill a person.
To date the sister of Ms McLoughlin's former partner has maintained she was involved in a physical fight with the deceased and had punched Ms McLoughlin in the face.
Today the court heard the woman struck Ms McLoughlin several times, and initially told police she saw the deceased fall and lose consciousness "for like a second", but that the 27-year-old got up and was fine later in the evening.
Dr Coyne said if the alleged punch and fall were in fact the blows that fatally injured Ms McLoughlin, he would have expected her to lose consciousness for at least five to 10 minutes.
"If she was active, she wasn't experiencing a significant brain problem," he said.
"So it's more likely [the fatal impact] would have happened after the last time she was last seen being active."
Dr Coyne told the inquest that in his expert opinion it was most likely that Ms McLoughlin's fatal brain injury was caused by a more "major" force than those detailed to police.
Mother tells of son's violent past
During the second day of the inquest, the mother of Ms McLoughlin's former partner was also called to give evidence.
She said she had seen Ms McLoughlin just hours before she was found in a "comatose" state and rushed to hospital.
When asked by lawyer Peter Boyce if she was aware her son was violent toward his partners, the woman said, "both parties in each case are as bad as each other".
"If you're trying to point out domestic violence, in three cases they were all as bad each other, if one was hitting, he was hitting back," she said.
Mr Boyce then asked if she was suggesting her son only "gave as good as he got?"
"They were unpredictable people, my son included," the woman said.
"I've known both have been violent.
"Those people attract those people, they are a deadly combination.
"I'm not saying my son is innocent of hitting or anything — I'm saying it was the norm.
"For me it was just another day.
"It breaks your heart, but if Kirra wasn't hitting him, he was hitting her — you couldn't separate them."
When questioned about whether she had asked her son about the events of July 16, the woman said she had.
"They argued, made up, gone to bed, made love," she said.
"He said he snuggled to her and later that day he couldn't wake her up.
"The only other thing [my son] has said to me is, 'They think I killed her, but I didn't, I loved her.'"
'You heard Kirra's voice?'
Later in the inquest the woman told the court she had spoken to her son on the phone late on the night Ms McLoughlin was fatally injured.
She claimed she heard the 27-year-old in the background, telling her "everything's fine" and that she had "laughed".
The coroner pointed out the information was the exact opposite of the statement she gave to police in 2014.
"Don't you think that was something important to tell police, that you heard Kirra's voice on the phone at 11.26pm that night?" coroner Jane Bentley asked the woman.
"On July 18 [2014] you were able to tell them quite a lot of things about the conversation, but you didn't tell them you heard Kirra's voice — in fact, you told them specifically you hadn't."
The woman suggested it was difficult to remember and perhaps she was in shock at the time, and her recollection had improved since her initial statement.
Tomorrow the inquest is expected to hear from seven witnesses, including Ms McLoughlin's neighbour, people who allegedly heard yelling from the Wolvi property, and Ms McLoughlin's partner.
