Ariel Bombara has spoken out after her father killed two Perth women.Credit: ABC Perth
Another internal police investigation has been launched to determine what police could have done better to protect the community from Bombara – a 63-year-old land developer with no criminal record.
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WA Police commissioner Col Blanch said police spoke with Bombara only on one occasion in April in the context of arranging a police escort for his wife and daughter to collect their belongings from the family’s Mosman Park home.
During the three contacts with police, Ariel requested a 72-hour police order against her father, but was told the risk did not reach the threshold for the order to be granted.
“We need to uncover exactly what decisions were made and what avenues we had available to take action … if that’s shown to be the wrong decision, that’s what this investigation will cover,” Blanch said.
Mark Bombara.
He also confirmed that the police dealing with the mother and daughter had suggested on three occasions that the women seek a family violence restraining order, which was not followed through.
A family violence restraining order triggers a removal of licensed firearms, of which Bombara legally owned 13.
“I would never blame someone for not wanting to do something because they’re scared,” Blanch said.
The double-murder suicide has also triggered a last-minute rush for amendments to be made to Western Australia’s gun law reforms to give police powers to remove guns for firearm licence holders at the first sign of an acrimonious marriage break-up.
WA Police Minister Paul Papalia supported the tightening of what he says will already become Australia’s strictest gun laws.
“My personal view is there’s a need to lower that threshold and move into the space of where there’s an acrimonious break-up and there’s known to be guns involved, to move very quickly to remove those guns,” he said.
“We need to change the law because the current law is what dictates the process.
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“That’s what dictated what happened here, and it’s inadequate, I’ve acknowledged that.”
Opposition police spokesman Peter Collier called on the Corruption and Crime Commission to conduct its own investigation into police conduct over the period that Ariel and her mother raised concerns about Bombara.
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