‘Police ignored me the morning my son was killed’

JULIA Trinne frantically banged on a police station’s door in South Australia for 20 minutes before officers let her in at opening time.

Julia Trinne frantically banged on a police station’s door for 20 minutes before officers let her in at opening time.

GRIEVING mum Julia Trinne had a terrible feeling when she realised her little boy and husband were missing. She ran to the local police station to get help.

But she claims her frantic calls for assistance were ignored.

Later it was discovered her four-year-old son, Luca, was fatally stabbed by his dad and Julia’s then-husband, David Janzow.

Julia has now lodged a formal complaint against SA Police alleging her frantic knocks, on the morning her son was killed, were ignored because it was not opening time yet.

Luca was tragically killed by David, after his mental health spiralled into delusions telling her his son must die. It’s thought they left the family home about 7am.

When Julia realised her boy was missing she considered calling triple-0 from home, but thought it would be quicker to get to the police station and talk in person as it was only a couple of minutes down the road.

Julia’s complaint alleges she knocked on the door from about 7.30am until the station’s opening time of 8am, when officers interviewed her on July 8, 2014.

She said she saw the officers inside Norwood police station, Adelaide, but they didn’t open the door until after 20 minutes of banging on the doors and ringing the doorbell. At the same time she was calling friends and family to search for her husband and son.

Julia told the Adelaide Advertiser her frantic concerns were not taken seriously by police staff who eventually took her report but seemed more concerned that she did not know David’s car registration, rather than alerting officers to be on the lookout for a Volkswagen ute in the area.

“I understand protocols but when it is obvious something major is wrong you would think surely they would be able to realise this and act,” she said.

“I had tears streaming down my face, and at one point even crouched down in the corner of the station and was very distressed with, what I believe, was a lack of empathy and lack of professional and appropriate action.

“The reaction and response that I was given was not adequate.”

Julia claims her son’s case wasn’t dealt with enough urgency or empathy.

SA Police would not comment on the complaint and referred it to the Police Ombudsman, who also declined to comment on the investigation.

Julia intends to demand a coronial inquest into Luca’s death.

David was arrested after he approached a police patrol, who were attending an unrelated car accident, about 8.40am, and told them what he had done.

Julia claims being made to wait at the station meant minutes were wasted helplessly banging on the station doors when they could have been spent saving Luca’s life.

She said she was taken to hospital with family members after police told her they would not be able to get her there any quicker.

She admitted it wasn’t a malicious act by the police at the station, but thought at a minimum, it was a lack of being able to identify an “extremely distressed person and to act appropriately and quickly in the given situation”.

“Should you have to teach police officers, to respond empathically, appropriately and professionally in such a situation? I thought that would have come with the job, to be honest.”

Photos of Luca were held by police long after the court matters finished.

Julia is also frustrated that the photos of her son, which were stored on her laptop, were only returned to her by police in February this year — three months after David’s court matters finished, and almost two years since her boy’s death.

Julia said she laid the complaint because she wanted officers to be correctly trained to deal with urgent, and potentially deadly circumstances and to be more empathetic to victims of crimes.

“Upon leaving the hospital, I was given a box of tissues and the phone number of a counsellor but that was it really,” she said.

Julia complained about her initial treatment on the day her boy died and then lodged a complaint in writing six months later. She said it then took another year for police to properly acknowledge it.

She hopes an inquest will investigate all aspects of the incident, including the lead up to her husband’s deterioration, his psychiatric treatment before Luca’s death, as well as their contact with the state’s mental health system.

David was found not guilty of murder by reason of mental incompetence.

The Supreme Court ordered David liable to supervision for the rest of his life, and he’s likely to remain in a secure psychiatric facility for the foreseeable future.

This article originally appeared on Kidspot.