Floreat, Perth murder suicide: Mark Bombara had huge cyst on his brain before he killed mother and daughter

The killer who murdered a mother and her teenage daughter before taking his own life had a 10cm cyst on his brain and had been acting ‘aggressively’ towards hospital staff in the weeks before the tragedy, a medical worker has claimed.

New details about Mark Bombara’s health have come to light after he stormed the home of Jennifer Petelczyc, 53, in Floreat, Perth, on the afternoon of May 24.

He was looking for his ex-wife who had been staying at Ms Petelczyc’s home but when he couldn’t find her, he fatally shot the 53-year-old and her daughter Gretl, 18, before turning the gun on himself.

A health worker, who chose to stay anonymous, has since claimed Bombara likely wouldn’t have been discharged from hospital if staff knew about his large gun collection at home, given the change in his behaviour in recent months. 

After being discharged Bombara fatally shot Jennifer Petelczyc, 53, and her daughter Gretl, 18, (pictured) in their Floreat home in Perth before turning the gun on himself around 4.30pm on May 24

‘If they were sending someone home to 13 guns, with a cyst that large and displaying that behaviour … there would have been a discussion with police,’ they told WA Today.

The healthcare worker claimed Bombara’s behaviour got so bad that staff recommended that his driver’s licence be suspended on medical grounds. 

‘He was appearing volatile, which can be an impairment of a brain injury. That had only been identified in the past couple of months and these sort of things build up over time. He was a very unwell man,’ they continued. 

The worker said Bombara also had two mini-strokes in January. 

Bombara was admitted to hospital after the first stroke, known as a transient ischemic attack, before returning weeks later having suffered another one. 

The worker claimed other health professionals and family members raised concerns about Bombara’s increasingly aggressive and erratic behaviour in recent months.

They said health workers should be able to check online databases to see if patients showing risky behaviour were licenced gun holders. 

‘We need mandatory reporting, and improved ability to assess risk – we need to know if people have firearms,’ they said. 

The North Metropolitan Health Service, which cared for Bombara, said his mental health was reviewed at the time and ‘no signs of reduced mental capacity [or] aggression’ were found.

‘Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital treated Mr Bombara in early May for a series of small strokes,’ the health service’s acting chief executive Joel Gurr said.

‘While he was in our care, the treating team reviewed his mental health and determined there were no signs of reduced mental capacity, aggression or suicide risk.

‘Mental health clinicians routinely make referrals to Police if they have concerns a patient is assessed as being aggressive or at risk to others, but in this case, the patient did not present with any behaviors that would trigger this process.’

Bombara’s daughter, Ariel, released a statement of her own on Tuesday, where she blamed WA Police for dismissing her family’s concerns about his behaviour leading up to the murder-suicide.

The healthcare worker said Bombara suffered two mini-strokes in early May 

Ariel Bombara (pictured) released a statement on Tuesday which levied some blame onto WA Police who she claims ignored her family’s concern over Bombara’s behaviour

Bombara was known to police but did not have a history of violence and was not being monitored.

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 said. 

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.

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