Gun permit approved despite 15 alleged incidents of violence
Killer dad John Edwards was allowed to receive a gun permit because a clerk in the firearms registry did not think it was her job to report the history of violence on his record, an inquest has heard.
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Killer dad John Edwards was allowed to receive a gun permit because a clerk in the firearms registry did not think it was her job to report the history of violence on his police record, an inquest has heard.
In sensational evidence, the civilian clerk told the inquest that it had not been her role to have pointed out to her bosses that there were 15 events of alleged assault, domestic violence, alleged stalking, AVOs and a “children at risk” report against his name.
The clerk from the NSW Police Firearms Registry, whose name has been suppressed, said she became involved when Edwards applied for a so-called “Commissioner’s Permit” in January 2017 that allowed him to do the training at a pistol club so he could then apply for a full licence.
In January 2017, Edwards admitted he had lied on a previous gun licence application in 2010 by saying he had not been subject to an AVO in the previous 10 years when the truth was he had been subject to one in 2000 taken out to protect another of his 10 children.
The clerk said that while it was her job to run so-called “Central Name Index” checks through the police COPS computer system, she had never been given any formal training, She still works in the registry.
Just 18 months after Edwards, 67, received a “Commissioner’s Permit”, he shot dead his children Jack, 15, and Jennifer, 13, at their West Pennant Hills home and then killed himself.
His estranged wife Olga, 37, committed suicide.
The inquest is examining why police took no action when Ms Edwards reported her husband’s actions to them and also how he got a firearms licence.
The NSW Firearms Registry has been completely overhauled since the tragedy.
Giving evidence by AVL, the clerk said she had been asked only to a CNI check to see if the 2000 AVO had expired – but nothing else.
Counsel assisting the inquest Kate Richardson SC, pointed out that the information on the police system ran backwards, starting from the present day, so when the clerk scrolled through Edwards’ record, it would have shown up the report just three weeks earlier – in December 2016 – that he had allegedly assaulted Jack and Jennifer.
The clerk would also have seen that in March 2016, there was a mention of “young person at risk” and a report of an argument between Edwards and Olga Edwards that was so serious police were called.
The next entry scrolling back was an interim AVO taken out against Edwards in 2011 to protect one of his other older children.
Ms Richardson said the system showed the clerk had not clicked on any of those references to read more about them.
There had been a total of 18 incidents recorded against Edwards’ name, 15 of them to do with alleged assault, domestic violence, alleged stalking and AVOs.
But the clerk said that to her it had been “black and white” that all she had been tasked to do was to check on whether the 2000 AVO had expired – which it had.
She had reported that fact to her superior whose job it had been to decide whether the permit was issued.
The clerk said they had been overworked and under-resourced as work “piled up”.
That superior will give evidence that she did not do a computer check on Edwards’ record either.
The inquest before NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan continues
POLICE HANDLING OF ABUSE SLAMMED
Wrong conclusion, wrong victim, no investigation: the way the police handled the report made by tragic mum Olga Edwards that her husband had been beating their children has been slammed by a senior officer.
The head of the NSW Police Domestic and Family Violence team, Chief Inspector Sean McDermott, has told an inquest yesterday that it would be dealt with differently today.
He said Ms Edwards’ report to Hornsby Police 18 months before her husband shot their children dead should never have been “written off” as “maybe a premeditated attempt to influence some future family court and divorce proceedings”.
Insp McDermott said that conclusion was premature because there had been no investigation and police had not even spoken to the children.
It was just one of the list of mistakes made by Senior Constable Brooke Cooper and her senior officer when they dealt with Ms Edwards’ complaint. They not only came to the wrong conclusion but the wrong victim was named, the inquest has heard.
In July 2018, after an acrimonious family court fight, John Edwards, 67, shot dead his son Jack, 15, and daughter Jennifer, 13, at their West Pennant Hills home and then turned the gun on himself.
Six months later, Ms Edwards, 37, committed suicide.
Before the inquest moves on to investigate how Edwards, with a history of violence, managed to get a gun licence, it is examining how police handled his estranged wife’s reports.
The inquest has heard that on December 29, 2016, Ms Edwards went into Hornsby Police Station and reported that Edwards had assaulted Jack and Jennifer in 2015. It was the first time she had reported family violence.
Insp McDermott said Const. Cooper should have recorded on the police computer system, COPS, that it was an “Assault DV” and not, as she had recorded, “DV. No offence detected”.
Then she wrongly recorded Olga Edwards as the victim when Jack and Jennifer should have been recorded as the victims.
Insp McDermott said the officer had correctly asked Ms Edwards to bring the children into the police station to be interviewed but then did not follow it up.
Insp McDermott said the onus should not have been on Ms Edwards.
“When she didn’t return to the police station, the police should have gone out to speak to the children,” he said, which may have then lead to their father being charged with assault.
The report had been wrongly verified by her senior officer but Insp McDermott said the system had since changed. Now if an officer states there was “no offence”, they have to state why not so it can be checked and there was a checklist for supervising officers.
Insp McDermott said the fact there had been family court proceedings on foot at the time was irrelevant.
He said that when Ms Edwards reported in February 2016 that her estranged husband had turned up at her yoga class, there had been enough evidence to take out an AVO if police had investigated the report.
The inquest before NSW Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan continues.