‘I had a bad feeling’: Adelaide woman Honi Pinnegar discovers brother Aaron Worthington ended his life
A Facebook post left an Adelaide woman fearing the worst for her brother. When he wasn’t active online, she called the police.
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“Goodbye, I can’t do this anymore. So long to those that care. Peace.” — Those were the words Aaron Worthington posted to Facebook in the moments before he ended his life.
When his sister, Honi Pinnegar, saw the status she messaged him asking if he was all right.
“I kept checking my Messenger live and it said he hadn’t been active since and I started to get worried,” the 38-year-old told The Advertiser.
“He’d only just gotten out of hospital for his mental health … I had a bad feeling.”
Ms Pinnegar, who lives in Evanston, called the police, who checked on Aaron and found the 40-year-old dead, five days before his 41st birthday.
Aaron was born and grew up in Adelaide, in the northern suburbs, before he moved to Perth 15 years ago.
“He made the move over there because he was going to be a dad,” Ms Pinnegar said.
Aaron met his son, Ryan Cumby-Worthington’s mother online, moved to Perth to be with her and she fell pregnant with their child. Despite the relationship ending, Aaron continued to live in Perth to be with his son.
Ms Pinnegar said his son was his world.
When Perth police found Aaron on February 10 and Ms Pinnegar was told the news of her brother, she was forced to tell Ryan.
“It was really hard,” she said.
Ms Pinnegar said her brother struggled with his mental health his entire life, since their mother died when Aaron was three years old and she was eight months.
“She (their mother) was only 22 (when she died) and so we grew up in foster care,” the Evanston mum-of-three said.
“We lived together, in the same home, until Aaron was about 13, and he had some behavioural issues and started acting out.
“He didn’t want to live with mum and dad anymore, so he had gone on to another foster family.
“When he lived with that family, he actually ended up being abused.
“That was really hard for him to talk about and really affected him.”
Since Aaron was diagnosed with complex post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and schizophrenia.
“It was hard watching him from a distance with his struggles,” his sister said.
Aaron loved Port Adelaide football club and cricket.
“If I played cricket with him, he’d play Barbies with me,” Ms Pinnegar said.
Ms Pinnegar said her brother was a “big teddy bear”.
“He always had a big smile and was a sweetheart,” she said.
Ms Pinnegar is hoping Aaron’s death can inspire change in the healthcare system.
“Sometimes they release people out of hospital too soon,” she said.
“My brother, he had only just been in there and then a day or two later, he had taken his life.
“They do need a lot more help or funding with mental health in hospitals.”
He was born on February 15, 1984. He died on February 10, 2025. He was 40 years old.
He is survived by his son Ryan, his sister Honi Pinnegar, his brother Christopher Harris, his grandparents Elizabeth and Robert Carter and nieces and nephews, Destiny, Jaxon and Lincoln.
If you’d like to donate to the funeral arrangements, you can here.
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