David Simmons: Arrest warrant issued for former partner of Amy Wensley after failing to show at court

An arrest warrant has been issued for the former boyfriend of Amy Wensley — who died from a gunshot wound to the head a decade ago — after he failed to appear at his trial on charges of assaulting a police officer. David Robert Simmons, 40, was due to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on Monday after previously pleading not guilty to assaulting a cop and obstructing public officers following an incident in Northbridge on May 8 last year. Mr Simmons pleaded not guilty to the charges in May but failed to appear for the start of his trial on Monday. Instead, a warrant for his arrest was issued. Amy Wensley, 24, died in June 2014 after she was found with a gunshot wound to her head at the Serpentine home she shared with Mr Simmons and her two daughters, one of which he’d fathered. Her death was first declared a suicide by WA Police, then again after a cold case review. But a third police investigation concluded she died by either suicide, murder or an accident. Her friends and family reject the idea she has taken her own life. After a 2021 inquest, Deputy State Coroner Sarah Linton was unable to find which of the scenarios were most likely to have taken place. “I regret that I am unable to provide all of the answers that Ms Wensley’s family are seeking, but I am required to base my findings on the evidence and there are too many unknowns in this case,” she said. Within minutes of arriving at the scene, uniformed police officers thought the death was suspicious before detectives, who arrived shortly after, quickly declared it a suicide. A forensic unit was not called in the initial stages and the room where Ms Wensley died was deep-cleaned just hours later, destroying potential evidence. The mystery surrounding Ms Wensley’s death was re-investigated in Channel Seven’s podcast The Truth About Amy. One episode explores bombshell accounts about what happened prior to her death. Another hears from a crime scene investigator. Ms Wensley and Mr Simmons had been together for almost six years and had got into in a nasty fight reportedly witnessed by two of his friends on the day she died. The young woman called her mother, who described her daughter as being extremely upset and hysterical, as she arranged to come stay at her house with the two girls before she retreated to their bedroom. Mr Simmons — who strongly denies he was responsible for Ms Wensley’s death — claims to have been outside helping to pack the car with belongings when he heard a “thud”. He insists Ms Wensley was already dead when he went into the bedroom to see what had happened. It also emerged that Ms Wensley and Mr Simmons were in a car crash before she died, leaving her recovering in a halo brace with a fractured vertebra. Mr Simmons claimed the crash was an accident and that the car had slid on a gravel road before ploughing into a tree. Ms Wensley initially did not pursue accident compensation, because authorities would have chased Simmons for the debt as he was driving. But it later emerged that Ms Wensley told the Insurance Commission of WA she would go ahead with the claim — two days before her death. Close friends of Ms Wensley said the insurance claim was part of her plan to leave Mr Simmons. Ms Gower and Natasha Celcer said Ms Wensley’s relationship had turned violent and controlling. Ms Celcer recalled one night when Mr Simmons came home to meet his nine-month-pregnant partner following an outing with his friends. “He came home, and was very volatile. So it started, he was intoxicated, been drinking. Amy started saying to him: ‘This isn’t on. I’m pregnant’. “They were fighting in the kitchen and I turned to walk out of the lounge room back through the kitchen, and all I saw was David with his hands around Amy’s neck, bent over her back, pushed up against the table with his hands around her neck. “And I remember saying to him: ‘That’s not okay. You can’t do that ... What is wrong with you?” The podcast, hosted by investigative journalists Alison Sandy and Liam Bartlett, can be found on various podcast platforms. *If you knew Amy.. and have information about her death – you can email thetruthaboutamy@seven.com.au. You can also send us an anonymous tip at www.thetruthaboutamy.org WA Police formed new a team to look last year to look into fresh leads, with a $1 million reward for information still standing. Crime stoppers: 1800 333 000