‘Just Say Goodbye’ (January 2013 online edition)

DVRCV Discussion Paper No. 8Three weeks before the filicide, Paula applied for an apprehended violenceorder (AVO) which Phithak immediately breached by leaving messages on herphone and a handwritten note on the windscreen of her car, warning her heintended to kill both her and himself. The breach was reported by her father butno action was taken by police at that time (Brown & Tyson 2008).On the night before the killings, Phithak Kongsom broke into Paula’s home,tied her to her bed and sexually assaulted her (Poulson 2008). When she waswith police reporting the assault, Phithak Kongsom went to the home wherethe children were being looked after by their grandfather, and killed boththe children and their grandfather who tried to protect them (Poulson 2008,Cameron & Ross 2008).Paula had reported her fears to police on three occasions in the six weeksbefore the filicide. The coroner found there were a number of shortcomings inthe way the police handled the domestic ‘incidents’ and that the public wouldhave expected police to arrest Phithak Kongsom after the rape (Cameron andRoss 2008).In the cases of Ramazan Acar, Jayson Dalton, Gary Bell and PhithakKongsom outlined earlier, the violence against the mother had been reported topolice. Steps were taken to protect the mother directly from harm: protectionorders were put in place, although the perpetrators continued their violence inbreach of the orders. In each of those cases, the children were killed while theorder was in place.Risks to children not recognisedIt is evident that legal remedies are available that aim to protect women fromharm; however, there appears to be a lack of awareness of the threat of harmposed to children in the context of the violence against their mother. Thesecases demonstrate that the risk of harm to the mother can extend to a risk ofharm to the children.In the cases of Ramazan Acar, Rajesh Osborne, Jayson Dalton and GaryBell, there was a history of violence by the father towards the mother. Thisviolence led to the separation. In Rajesh Osborne’s case, this pattern of violentbehaviour was repeated in a subsequent relationship. Prior to attending courtin relation to a family violence matter, he killed his children and himself. In thePhithak Kongsom case, violence also led to the separation and escalated afterseparation. He threatened to kill himself and his ex-partner and sexuallyassaulted her. Threats to kill an intimate partner and threats to suicide havebeen identified as risk factors for intimate partner homicide (Departmentof Victorian Communities 2007). Phithak Kongsom’s case, like the case ofRamazan Acar, indicates that these may also be risk factors for filicides thatoccur in the context of separation.50