Fix failings that led to Floreat murders, DV advocates say

The best way to honour the deaths of Jennifer and Gretl Petelcyzc is to ensure nobody else succumbs to the police errors and missed opportunities revealed by the coronial inquest into their shocking 2024 murders, advocates for victims and survivors of family violence say.

Mark Bombara had been looking for his estranged wife Rowena when he shot and killed her best friend Jennifer, and her teenage daughter Gretl, before turning the gun on himself in the affluent suburb of Floreat in Perth's west.

Over the past five days, the inquest heard how unheeded pleas to police for help, several Triple Zero calls left on hold and failings by the authorities to review gun licences had contributed to the tragedy.

"A critically important way to honour Jennifer and Gretl is to address the serious systematic gaps and missed opportunities that have come to light through the coronial inquest," said Alison Evans from the Centre for Women's Safety and Wellbeing.

"There will be learnings for all of us, and all parts of the system, and we owe it to all victims to take the recommendations of the inquest very seriously."

With the acting state coroner Sarah Linton's findings set to be released next year, advocates hope the tragedy will lead to improvements in the system and data used to keep track of potential offenders and protect those at risk.

Missing the warning signs

Curtin University social work professor Donna Chung, who, like Dr Evans, gave evidence at the inquest, called for more stringent measures to assess the risks posed by potential domestic violence perpetrators like Mark Bombara.

She highlighted how the inquest revealed that those in authority can miss warning signs, and that perpetrators of family violence can often hide in plain sight.

"He was one of the people that's able to be pleasant to community, pleasant outside the home, and unpleasant and abusive to his partner. It is something that's often not well understood," she said.

"People think 'well, he seems a good guy to me'."

About two months before the murders, police escorted Mark Bombara's estranged wife to the family home to collect her belongings. She and her daughter Ariel had previously warned police about him several times.

The inquest heard from Constable Shaun King, who accepted a cup of tea from the gunman, saying he thought Bombara "seemed like a nice guy" and that he was impressed by his opulent home.

Professor Chung said this was an example of the various systemic failures to understand the risk Bombara posed.

"It's really critical in the first instance that if in doubt, we assess something as being higher risk than it may be, because the consequences of underestimating are huge and significant," Professor Chung said.

The state government has pledged to strongly consider all the recommendations from the inquest. The murders helped trigger an overhaul of Western Australia's gun laws, which are now among the most stringent in the country.