WA’s police commissioner has defended the way police responded to concerns raised by the wife and daughter of Floreat double murderer Mark Bombara prior to the shootings, saying they “did exactly what their policy says they should do”.
WA’s Police Commissioner Col Blanch and Police Minister Paul Papalia are speaking about the murders of Jennifer Petelczyc and her teenage daughter Gretl in their Floreat home by Mark Bombara.
Minister says he hasn’t spoken to family
By Andrea Mayes
Answering his last few questions of the day, Mr Papalia says he has not had any contact with Ariel Bombara or her family since she released her statement yesterday.
“No, I haven’t – I wouldn’t impose on people, but if anyone wants to speak to me who is deeply impacted by these events, I’d welcome their contact,” he says.
Commissioner Blanch acknowledged police had to do better in light of Ariel Bombara’s comments that their response was “indifferent” and had left her feeling helpless.
“Her experience is what matters to me. Victim-survivors, particularly of domestic violence, their experiences with police is what matters to us,” he says.
“We have to do better if that is their experience. All I’m saying is, we did act.
“But if she didn’t feel like we were doing our job, that’s the important part to focus on.”
The question of why a 72-hour temporary protective police order was not granted to the Bombara family was a key concern of Ariel Bombara’s.
Commissioner Blanch has explained why it was refused, saying under the current law the family’s request did not meet the “urgency” requirement.
He said the Restraining Orders Act refers to the urgency needed to allow someone time to get a family violence restraining order from the court, being three days to allow for weekends.
“It’s got to have that similar urgency,” he says.
“Based on the information given to us on the night, based on the safety and the location they were staying that we were given information about, it did not meet that criteria of urgency.”
But, like the police minister, Commissioner Blanch wants the law changed to make it easier to enforce a 72-hour protective order as well as to confiscate guns.
“I think we should lower the threshold that we can get those orders and [so] we can seize guns at a very low threshold when we are having those acrimonious marriage separations, or a concerning report of behaviours,” he says.
“[Then] we can go and take these actions immediately.”
Mr Papalia has claimed Mark Bombara would have had “fewer firearms” under the new laws.
“It doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have had a firearm, but under the new laws we would be the only state in the country that imposes a limit on firearm numbers,” he says.
“Until he conducted this act, as far as I know, there was no indication that he was a FDV offender or anything of that nature.”
A proposed disqualification order that could now be added to WA’s new gun laws would apply when someone with a firearm licence has recorded an interaction with police.
Mr Papalia has been asked why the proposed automatic acrimonious seizure of weapons wasn’t already included in the government’s new gun laws.
“It’s a massive rewrite of the act, this is the first time in 50 years it’s been rewritten,” he says.
“This is one particular consequence or element that really, we probably hadn’t identified.”
The minister says it would be an insult to the Petelczyc family to not improve this aspect of the law.
Commissioner Blanch then went on to run through the detail of the first contact between the family and police.
“When the first report was made police took a family violence information report, an incident report, as per our policy,” he says.
“On this particular occasion, when Ariel and her mother attended Mirrabooka police station the officer there took the family violence incident report.
“That immediately triggers, automatically triggers a number of functions. It does a risk assessment based on what was known at the time, it sends information to the family and domestic violence response team so they can triage that information. That was done. there was a triage meeting. It was referred to a third party through the Department of Communities for action. All of those things did happen.”
He stressed that in his view, all three times the Bombara family raised concerns “police did exactly what their policy says they should do”.
The police commissioner has also defended his officers across the state, saying they care deeply about stopping domestic violence and work hard to do that every day.
Commissioner Blanch has promised the investigation into the police response will look into what was done right or wrong, including things like being told by the Bombara family that there was a Glock pistol missing.
“I know many of my police officers are reading the news today, wondering … they do so much hard work and it’s being said they don’t care about domestic violence,” he says.
“My officers do care about domestic violence, and they work damn hard on it … They do a very, very good job in preventing and working and investigating domestic violence.
“We will investigate this and we will look to see if we have made the wrong decisions.”
The commissioner has been pressed on the critical question of how police responded to concerns from the Bombara family.
He was asked if it was acceptable that five police officers on three occasions were told by the family that Mark Bombara was an imminent threat and their lives were at risk but nothing was done.
“To say nothing was done is wrong. A lot was done,” Commissioner Blanch says.
The police minister has defended the WA government’s increased focus on gun law reforms since Friday.
“The laws have been debated and been in parliament for months, they passed through the Lower House, they moved to the Upper House and [had been] debated for more than a week by the time this incident occurred,” he says.
“It’s a reasonable thing that we reflected on what was being done, and it would have been impossible for me not to have stated in what ways the murderer would have been impacted by our new laws.”
Mr Papalia says he never claimed they would have prevented Mr Bombara’s ability to carry out the murders, but there are “at least four different ways the laws would have impacted him”.
Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl were gunned down in their own home on Friday night by a 62-year-old man who was looking for his estranged wife.
Yesterday his daughter Ariel spoke out about her father’s violent history, detailing how she and her mother tried to get help from police on three occasions but were “repeatedly failed”.
Police Commissioner Col Blanch said it was wrong to say police didn’t act on the women’s concerns.
“To say nothing was done is wrong. A lot was done,” Mr Blanch told ABC Radio Perth.
Ms Bombara said she told police “my mother and I felt there was a real and imminent threat to our lives” and raised concerns about her father’s gun collection, including that a handgun was missing.
She said she asked for a 72-hour restraining order be taken out against her father, but police refused.
But Commissioner Blanch defended the way officers handled the situation, saying correct policy was followed.
“When the first report was made police took a family violence information report, an incident report, as per our policy,” he says.
“That immediately triggers … a risk assessment based on what was known at the time, it sends information to the family and domestic violence response team so they can triage that information.
“That was done. there was a triage meeting. It was referred to a third party through the Department of Communities for action. All of those things did happen.”
He stressed that in his view, all three times the Bombara family raised concerns “police did exactly what their policy says they should do”.
Police response ‘seems inadequate’: Federal Minister
Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth and WA Liberal Leader Libby Mettam were among those calling for police to do better.
Ms Rishworth said WA Police’s response seemed inadequate, while Ms Mettam called for an independent inquiry to be launched in addition to the police internal review announced yesterday.
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Ms Rishworth is part of an urgent review into the prevention of domestic violence and said the family of the gunman were let down by the response of police.
“It certainly seems that she did not get the response that she needed from police,” she told ABC News Breakfast this morning.
“And so, it’s right that the West Australian government looks into this and it’s right that the Police Commissioner looks at what could have been done to prevent this tragedy.”
Ms Rishworth noted the bravery of Ms Bombara for speaking out and said her call for action was “incredibly powerful”.
“I think it [speaking] requires an enormous bravery, particularly at a time where she would be grieving to speak up and make these comments,” she said.
“Her urge for action is very powerful.”
No formal complaints received
WA Police Minister Paul Papalia said police did not have any “formal record” of complaint from Ariel Bombara and her mother about family violence in the weeks leading up to the shootings.
“There were no formal reports … the police did not have a record of any incidents or offences or reports from the family with respect to him [Bombara] prior to that time,” he said.
“Until he conducted this act, as far as I know, there was no indication that he was a FDV offender or anything of that nature.”
Paul Papalia speaks about the police response in the weeks leading up to the Floreat double murder-suicide.(ABC News: Keane Bourke)
However, he said the family’s interaction with the police would form part of an internal investigation into what happened announced by the police commissioner yesterday following Ms Bombara’s interview.
Call for independent probe
Liberal leader Libby Mettam said Mr Papalia’s account of the police response to the Bombara women’s concerns “directly contradicts” Ariel Bombara’s account and said an independent investigation needed to be conducted as well as the internal police probe.
“As a priority, the inquiry must be looking at the allegations that have been made by Ariel Bombara,” she said.
“Quite clearly it needs to also point to how similar situations could also be avoided. We need to ensure that when women and families raise the alarm about the safety of themselves, that they are heard, they are listened to. And there is a prompt response.
“Ariel’s statement, where she’s raising the need for firearms to be seized at the hands of her murderous father, raise real questions about why those concerns weren’t heard at the same time.”
