Toowoomba Vigil Honours Jana Armstrong, Calls for Action Against Domestic Violence

Up to 1,000 people have attended an emotional candlelight vigil in Toowoomba to honour the life of 30-year-old Jana Armstrong.

As the sun set and candles sparkled, Faith Isaacs told the crowd she hoped her sister's death would encourage domestic violence victims to speak up.

The vigil was attended by Toowoomba Mayor Geoff MacDonald and his wife Lisa, Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Minister Amanda Camm, local federal member Garth Hamilton, senior police officers and the police chaplain.

They were joined in the civic square lawn area adjacent to City Hall by friends and colleagues of Ms Armstrong's, as well as strangers who wanted to pay their respects to the young mother who was killed two weeks ago.

Ms Isaacs and her husband Michael are caring for Ms Armstrong's four-month-old son. The couple cradled the baby during the hour-long vigil.

"No family should have to go through what ours has. Domestic violence doesn't just take one victim, it leaves children without parents, families with unimaginable grief and communities heartbroken," Ms Isaacs told the crowd.

"We hope Jana's story encourages people to speak up, seek help if they are experiencing domestic violence, and to look out for those around them.

State Treasurer and local member David Janetzki told the crowd that too many women lived with the scourge of family violence.

"Every 11 days a woman is killed by someone she trusts in our country," Mr Janetzki said.

He named two other Toowoomba women who were allegedly the victims of domestic violence in the past 18 months.

"These are women we have gone to school with, they are women we have worked with, we have played sports with, we share our everyday lives with them," he said.

On either side of the stage was a picture of Ms Armstrong and the words "Jana, never forgotten".

Ms Armstrong's aunt, Kathy Sweedman, urged the crowd never to turn a blind eye to domestic violence.

"If you are experiencing any form of domestic or family violence please speak up … please don't ever think you are alone," she said.

Amanda Dalton, the chief executive of domestic violence charity Protea Place, said the vigil was an opportunity for people to wrap their arms around Ms Armstrong's family.

"It is very much community-focused. It is very much from the heart, to allow people that safe space to come and to gather," Ms Dalton said.

She said more women had come forward to seek support since Ms Armstrong's death.

"It hits home, the reality of it … it does raise that awareness that 'I think I might need some help,'" she said.

Partner charged with murder

Ms Armstrong was last seen alive on the afternoon of July 7 at her home in Newtown. Earlier that day, she had met Ms Isaacs for brunch at a cafe.

At 6am on July 8 Ms Armstrong's car was found 500 metres from her home, but she was nowhere to be found.

Taxi driver Dharminder Singh was found at Ms Armstrong's home that morning with their baby.

Police and the SES conducted searches at Black Gully Reserve, near her home, and along Tabletop Drive at Rangeville.

Family and friends held searches at Preston, where Ms Armstrong's car had been spotted on the evening after her disappearance.

Ms Armstrong's body was discovered at 10:39pm on Sunday, July 12 in steep bushland off Esk Hampton Road at Redbank Creek, about 60 kilometres from her home, by two men out pig hunting.

Dharminder Singh was arrested at a property in Harristown in Toowoomba early the next morning and charged with her murder and with arson. He appeared in court the next day and was remanded in custody.

Outside court his lawyer, Ramli Salehkon, said Mr Singh asserted his innocence and that the matter would be defended.

Ms Armstrong's funeral will be held on August 7 in Millmerran on the Western Downs. She will be buried alongside her parents and grandmother.

Almost $75,000 has been donated to a fundraiser for the family.