The daughter of the man who murdered a mother and her teenager in Perth before turning the gun on himself repeatedly tried to warn police about him.
On Friday aftrernoon, Mark James Bombara, 63, gunned down Jennifer Petelczyc, 59, and her daughter Gretl, 18, after turning up at their Floreat home, in Perth’s west, searching for his ex-wife, a good friend of the older woman.
Ariel Bombara, has revealed that she contacted police on three separate occasions to warn them of the threat her dad posed
Mark James Bombara, 63, murdered a mother and daughter in Perth before turning the gun on himself
When Bombara was unable to find his ex, he cable-tied the mother and daughter and made several threatening phone calls, The West Australian reported, before shooting them both and then taking his own life.
Bombara’s wife had left him weeks ago and had been staying with Ms Petelczyc.
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 revealed that she contacted police on three separate occasions to warn them of the threat her dad posed
Mark Bombara, 63, stormed Jennifer Petelczyc’s Floreat home, in Perth’s western suburbs, about 4.30pm on Friday, looking for his estranged wife Rowena. Unable to find her, Bombara instead fatally shot her 53-year-old friend Jennifer Petelczyc and her daughter Gretl, 18, (pictured together) before turning the gun on himself
Mark James Bombara had been hunting for his former partner, Rowena, who had been staying with Ms Petelczyc following their bitter divorce (Bombara and Rowena are pictured together)
‘My mother and I made it clear that our lives were at risk – we were repeatedly ignored, repeatedly failed,’ she told the ABC.
‘I did everything I could to protect my mother — when my father couldn’t find us he murdered her best friend and her best friend’s daughter,’ she said.
She said that while her father should be considered accountable for his actions, there were authorities who should have helped them stop him.
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 Jennifer and Gretl.
Police Minister Paul Papalia said Bombara had no prior convictions or any record of 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.
Ariel said that she and her mother fled the family home on March 28 because they feared for their lives. Between March 30 and April 2, they spoke with the police three times to raise concerns about Bombara.
She said on each occasion she alerted officers to her father’s guns and told them she felt they were a ‘real and imminent threat’ to their lives.
After her initial conversation with the police about their fears, she found the officer’s response lacking. Dissatisfied, she reached out to another police station for assistance.
‘I specifically mentioned that there was a Glock handgun which was unaccounted for. [My] understanding is this ultimately would be one of the weapons that my father used to take the lives of two innocent women.’
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. Her mother had been deliberating about whether to tell her daughters about the threat posed by Bombara
Mark and Rowena’s adult children are (left to right) Isaac, Eden, Candice and Ariel Bombara
She asked police if the pair could take out a protective order – but was told ‘there was nothing police could do about the situation at the time’.
On April 2, when police officers accompanied them to retrieve belongings from their family home, Ms. Bombara once again voiced her concerns about the presence of guns.
A little more than seven weeks later, on May 24, Bombara went to the Petelczyc’s residence in search of his ex-wife. Frustrated when he couldn’t locate her, he resorted to opening fire.
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.
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