The daughter of a man who murdered a mother and her teenager in Perth before turning the gun on himself tried to warn police about him on three separate occasions.
Mark James Bombara, 63, gunned down Jennifer Petelczyc, 59, and her daughter Gretl, 18, after turning up at their Floreat home, in the city’s west, on Friday afternoon.
He had been searching for his ex-wife, a good friend of Ms Petelczyc, who had left him weeks ago and had been staying at her home.
When Bombara was unable to find his ex, he cable-tied Ms Petelczyc and her daughter and made several threatening phone calls, The West Australian reported.
He then fatally shot them both before taking his own life.
Ariel Bombara (right) has revealed that she contacted police on three separate occasions to warn them of the threat her father, Mark, posed
Ariel Bombara’s statement
Mark Bombara, 63, murdered Jennifer Petelczyc, 59, and her daughter Gretl, 18, (together above) before turning the gun on himself
Bombara had been hunting his former partner, Rowena (pictured together)
Bombara was known to police but did not have a history of violence and was not being monitored.
Ms Petelczyc and Bombara both died at the Berkeley Crescent residence while Gretl was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital where she died on Saturday morning.
His daughter, Ariel Bombara, has since shared a devastating statement, detailing her desperate efforts to warn police about her father.
She said she spoke with police three times between March 30 and April 2, after she and her mother fled the family home on March 28 ‘in fear of our lives’.
‘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,’ she wrote.
‘I specifically mentioned that there was a Glock handgun which was unaccounted for. My understanding is this ultimately would be one of the weapons my father used to take the lives of two innocent women.’
Ariel also asked police for a 72-hour temporary protective order which was denied.
‘We were told no and that there was nothing police could do about the situation at that time,’ she continued.
Bombara owned 11 guns under a recreational shooter’s permit and two pistols under a collector’s licence, one of which was used to kill Ms Petelczyc and her daughter.
Police Minister Paul Papalia said Bombara had no prior convictions or any record of a violence restraining order against him.
Mr Papalia said Bombara became known to police after his ex-wife asked for officers to be present at the home while she packed her belongings due to ‘Family Domestic Violence [FDV] related matters’.
‘But none of those had been reported to police and he was not known to the police in any other way other than her approaching them at that time,’ Mr Papalia said.
On April 2, when police officers accompanied Ariel and her mother to retrieve belongings from their family home, Ariel once again voiced her concerns about the presence of guns.
Bombara owned 11 guns under a recreational shooter’s permit and two pistols under a collector’s licence, one of which was used to kill Ms Petelczyc and her daughter
‘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,’ she said.
‘We were ignored by five different male officers across three occasions of reporting.
‘By that point we felt completely helpless and I had to focus on getting mum to safety. 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.
‘What my father did was an act of domestic violence. 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.’
Gretl, who recently got her P-plates, was only just getting started in life after graduating high school and starting a bachelor of sport degree at the University of WA
Killer’s handgun would have been illegal under new laws
Bombara would not have had access to the murder weapon under Australia’s toughest gun laws, being debated in the WA parliament.
Mr Papalia said WA’s proposed laws would be the toughest in the country; that they would have prevented Bombara from obtaining the collector’s licence; and that he would have been limited to owning five weapons.
‘This individual, sadly, was a fit and proper person, right up until the time he committed that act and he was a law-abiding firearms owner right up until he wasn’t,’ he said on Monday.
‘Under the current law that’s what happens and that’s why we want to make the laws tougher.’
Bombara would also have been forced to undergo a health check with a mental health component.
The government will now consider further measures to strengthen the legislation, including giving police the power to seize weapons following family and domestic violence incidents.
Gun control expert Charles Watson said WA’s proposed gun laws were extraordinary and advanced.
‘In global terms, it’ll be easily the best set of gun legislation in the world that’s much better than the other states here – I think other states will be forced to look at what WA has done,’ Professor Watson told AAP.