Ariel Bombara, the daughter of Perth murderer Mark Bombara, has released a statement claiming she and her mother raised concerns with WA Police about her father and his guns for months in the lead up to the killings of Jenny and Gretl Petelczyc in Floreat last Friday.
“My mother and I fled our family home on March 28 in fear of our lives and to remove ourselves from an abusive situation,” she wrote.
“Between March 30 and April 2, I spoke with police on three separate occasions to raise the alarm about my father.
“On each occasion I alerted officers to my father’s guns, and told them my mother and I felt there was a real and imminent threat to our lives.”
Bombara said she specifically mentioned a Glock handgun that was unaccounted for, which police said was found at the scene where the two women were murdered.
“I also asked the police if we would be able to take out a 72-hour temporary protective order,” she said.
“We were told no, and that there was nothing police could do about the situation at that time.”
Bombara outlined a specific incident in April when she and her mother were given a police escort to their home to collect some belongings.
“This was the third occasion we warned police about my father’s guns,” she said.
“One officer said, ‘Oh don’t worry, we know all about the guns’, and when he called for backup, he warned his fellow officers to wear bulletproof vests.”
Bombara claims she and her mother were “ignored by five different male officers across three occasions of reporting”.
‘We were repeatedly ignored. Repeatedly failed.’
Ariel Bombara
“By that point we felt completely helpless and I had to focus on getting mum to safety,” she said.
“I did everything I could to protect my mother, and when my father couldn’t find us he murdered her best friend and her best friend’s daughter.”
Bombara adds that while the reforming of WA’s gun laws was “an important step” she said it is her “unwavering belief that even without his guns, my father would have committed a horrific act of violence which likely would have claimed lives”.
“What my father did was an act of domestic violence,” she said.
“My mother and I made clear that lives were at risk, and we were repeatedly ignored. Repeatedly failed. Those failures have cost the lives of two incredible women.
“My father should always be considered accountable for his actions. They were his and his alone; however, there are authorities who should have helped us to stop him, and they failed.
“I want answers.”
At a press conference on Tuesday, WA Premier Roger Cook said the details Ariel shared about the “sickening crime” were distressing, but he declined to comment on the allegations that she and her mother had repeatedly tried to warn police about her father.
“We will be seeking clarification from police in relation to operational matters,” he said.
Yesterday, WA Police Minister Paul Papalia said Bombara had no criminal record, and that he had only come to the police’s attention recently when his wife requested an escort to collect her belongings from the marital home two months ago, fearing for her safety.
“There had been no reports to police prior to her going on the 31st of March,” he said.
“She did not report an offence, or seek a response at that time in relation to anything that had happened historically.”
Opposition police spokesman Peter Collier called on the minister and premier to apologise to Ariel and her family.
Jenny and Gretl Petelczyc were murdered in Perth on Friday.
“The statement from Ariel Bombara in response to the senseless murder of Jenny and Gretl Petelczyc at the hands of her father is both heartbreaking and frustrating,” he said.
“It is heartbreaking to read of the actual circumstances surrounding these murders. In addition, it is extremely frustrating because it is evident that these tragic murders could have been avoided.
“Equally, it completely contradicts the repeated comments of the minister for police in regard to this incident over the past few days. I cannot comprehend how the minister could have got it so completely wrong.”
Read more
‘Massive burden’: Perth ranked one of world’s most car-dependent cities
Paying green hydrogen’s way in WA will be harder than the hype