A damning final report into the murders of a mother and daughter in their Floreat home allegedly claims police failed to take domestic violence concerns from the killer’s family seriously, and some officers could lose their jobs as a result.
Mark Bombara, 63, shot Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl in May last year before turning the gun on himself.
WA Police Minister Paul Papalia said he didn’t want to make comments ahead of the official report release.Credit: Hamish Hastie
It was revealed he had been searching for his estranged wife and daughter, who were close friends with the Petelczyc family and had fled from their Mosman Park home in fear of him.
Bombara legally owned multiple guns and retained them despite his daughter, Ariel Bombara, and her mother repeatedly warning police he was dangerous on three separate occasions between March 30 and April 2, and that he may exact revenge after they left.
Police Minister Paul Papalia was questioned over a story in The West Australian on Thursday, which claimed the final report into the murders raised the prospect of several officers losing their jobs and other disciplinary action after dismissing those warnings and failing to record them accurately.
The report also allegedly called into question WA Police’s domestic violence policies and procedures and stated the treatment of the Bombara family was not isolated.
Papalia said WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch had initiated the reported and had indicated he would release it.
“He’s working with families and the coroner. That is a sensitive matter, and we’ve got to respect that process, so I’m not going to get out there in advance of the commissioner,” Papalia said.
“I’ve been briefed on recommendations of the report, many of which have been actioned already.”
Papalia said those actions included the government’s gun buyback scheme, which has removed 52,000 guns from WA streets to date, and reforms which would further restrict people from purchasing a gun.
On Tuesday, Police Commissioner Col Blanch confirmed the report was finalised and police were working with the Bombara family on a timeframe for its release, which is expected in the next fortnight.
Police will not comment further until then.
WA Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Healy said the removal of those 52,000 guns had made WA safer.
“It means that people … won’t be able to use them to cause harm against any community members, and they won’t be able to threaten or intimidate police officers when they’re responding to calls of assistance,” he said.
Papalia said the state government would be restricting the number of guns people could own and including mandatory safety training, health checks and strict new storage requirements for owners going forward.
Those changes will come into effect on March 31.
If you or anyone you know needs help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 (and see lifeline.org.au), 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), the National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service on 1800 211 028 or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.
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