This is part four of a series by Dr Chris Atmore on the Luke Batty inquest.

Legal help for bereaved family members

Rosie seeks me out to give the Federation some reflection on her experience in the witness box. ‘I’ve just realised,’ she says, ‘what it would have been like if I hadn’t had a legal team. Originally I didn’t even think I needed to go to Luke’s inquest – I couldn’t see the point and didn’t know what it was for. Now I realise that I would have spent the last three days going through what I’ve gone through and there would have been no-one there to represent me. I can’t imagine what that would have been like!’

Most bereaved family members don’t get legal representation in inquests, and often not even legal advice. In contrast, even though an inquest is meant to provide an opportunity for the system to be held up to the light, and for parties to put their own individual or agency needs second in the interests of the greater good and of preventing further deaths down the track, more often there is defensiveness. The agencies and government departments appear with their senior counsel and their legal teams and people like Rosie often have nobody. At best, as in Rosie’s case, they are lucky to have pro bono and community legal centre help and some legal aid funding to slightly compensate those volunteers.

The Federation is starting a new Legal Services Board-funded project next year, to build capacity to help more family members bereaved by family violence homicide go through the coronial process. The Coronial Council also recently wrote to the Attorney-General recommending that in situations similar to Rosie’s, the Coroner should have legislative discretion to require that legal representation be provided to the family member.

More problems with bail

Today the Court viewed a DVD of a police interview with Anderson following his arrest for threatening to kill Rosie and cut off her foot. The highly controlling and aggressive appearance of Anderson was reinforced by evidence from the arresting officer, Senior Constable Paul Topham, that within two seconds of talking with Anderson he decided to oppose bail. Senior Constable Topham described Anderson as having no regard for authority whatsoever. However he received bail, with one of the conditions being that he reside in a Salvation Army motel that was only available for three days.

From the evidence today, it appears to be difficult to provide sufficient corroborating evidence to oppose a bail application, and if the police informant is on leave by the time of the bail hearing, their view is not necessarily sought. Relevant emails to the informant while they are on leave seem unlikely to make their way to the person taking over the matter in their absence.

More problems in locating the perpetrator emerged, with evidence given that it is common for people to be bailed to a non-specific address, such as ‘Mornington’. Police seem to rely on LEAP, the White Pages (when Anderson was living in his car most of the time) and talking with other police informants.

More problems with warrants

Senior Constable Topham emailed Detective Andrew Cocking, who was seeking to execute a warrant on Anderson in relation to child pornography charges, and suggested that he could do this by attending Malvern Police Station because Anderson signed on for bail there every Monday. The email warned that Anderson ‘probably will be quite dangerous’.

A major flaw in the warrant system at that time was that police had 28 days to execute the warrant before it was filed onto LEAP, meaning that other officers would not be aware of any outstanding warrant until this was done. This has since been rectified so that the delay is now two days.

Could Anderson control his violence?

A question that emerged very soon after Luke’s death was whether Anderson had a mental illness, and if so, how that related to his violent behaviour. Evidence was heard today that a psychiatric assessment after he was arrested for an assault against Rosie found no evidence of mental illness. Other evidence, however, including Rosie’s, referred to religious delusions and erratic and irrational behaviour.

Most people with mental illness are not violent, and most family violence perpetrators do not have a significant mental illness. The question of whether an official diagnosis at one point in time conclusively shows that a person is not mentally ill is a vexed one. However, Senior Constable Topham, who arrested Anderson following his threat to cut off Rosie’s foot and make her suffer, related yesterday that Anderson ‘could turn it on and turn it off’ and was ‘very much in control of the situation’. Senior Constable Topham illustrated his assertion by describing an incident where Anderson was warned that the officer might have to deploy capsicum spray if he continued his behaviour. Anderson desisted.

One of the key characteristics of perpetrators of family violence is that generally their violence is targeted to specific victims. Violent men often terrorise their families with impunity because to the outside world they can appear congenial and even charming. Indeed, the cycle of violence, well known to family violence specialists, can mean that perpetrators can turn this charm onto their own family members – until their control is threatened. It may be how such a man enters his victim’s life in the first place, and is the reason why the murder of intimate partners is often symbolised by campaigners using red roses.

Another indicator of Anderson’s generally rational and calculating behaviour was his ability to play the system in relation to not reporting for bail. He may or may not have been mentally ill, but in relation to Rosie and Luke, witnesses suggest Anderson knew what he was doing. A question remains as to whether a public hospital might also consider using family violence risk assessment when a mental state examination is requested by police.

Police risk assessment and risk management, again

More gaps in information provided about risk to victims were revealed. Anderson was charged with child pornography offences in January 2013, but Rosie did not find out until six months later when Anderson’s lawyer disclosed this to the court during her intervention order hearing. Senior Constable Paul Topham said today that he thought privacy legislation prohibited disclosure to Rosie earlier that year, even though children at the football Anderson attended were considered to be at risk.

Risk assessment in the Victorian family violence integrated response is the subject of detailed and specific training via the Common Risk Assessment Framework, and is regarded as an interactive process of weighing risk factors, listening to the victim and using professional judgment. Yet evidence over the last two days suggests that it is regarded by some police as more a combination of a gut feeling about what is commonsense that is developed on the job, and tick-a-box form filling via the L17. This evidence suggests the need for further training on the Common Risk Assessment Framework.

Related media

Luke Batty inquiry: Police ‘worked hard’ to stop killer, BBC News Australia

Luke Batty inquest: Police officer ‘astounded’ Greg Anderson granted bail before killing, ABC News Online

Rosie batty storms out of her murdered son’s inquest, almost in tears, Guardian Australia

To arrange an interview with Dr Chris Atmore, please contact Darren Lewin-Hill on 0488 773 535.