She’s been a tireless advocate for women and children affected by family violence since her son’s death, establishing The Luke Batty Foundation in his honour.
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Luke was killed by his father, 54-year-old Greg Anderson, at a regional cricket ground south-east of Melbourne in February previous year.
There was a pattern of abuse towards Batty that occurred over a period of nearly a decade, yet little was known about Anderson, Gray found. Opportunities to conduct risk assessments about the likelihood of him harming Luke were missed by multiple agencies, he said, and when this information was gathered, it was not shared.
Mr Gray added: “No person or agency could have reasonably been expected to foresee that Mr Anderson would be that rare perpetrator, nor Luke the rare victim, of a violent filicide”. Well what did the Coroner have to say this morning?
Coroner Gray said the boy’s death had been preceded by years of family violence. But he did find that there are flaws or gaps as he put it in Victoria’s family violence system. Anderson, Batty’s ex-partner, died in hospital after being shot by police at the scene.
The inquest examined what could have been done by police and child protection authorities to prevent Luke’s death.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said Anderson’s offending was troubling enough for police to monitor him but it fell short of him being rated as a serious recidivist criminal.
Justice Ian Gray also held Luke’s mentally ill father Greg Anderson “solely responsible” for the schoolboy’s death at a suburban oval in February 2014.
At the end of the findings, Judge Gray told Ms Batty Luke’s death had not been in vain and congratulated her for her work raising awareness of family violence matters. “I’m really pleased with Judge Gray’s findings”.
KELLIE LAZZARO: He’s made a number of recommendations today Brendan. When Anderson murdered Luke there were four outstanding arrest warrants for him and two intervention orders linked to charges of assaulting Luke’s mother, Rosie Batty, possessing child pornography, and failing to appear in court.
An emotional anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty has said she feels her son Luke did not die in vain, after the Victorian Coroner ruled on his death on Monday.
A framed photograph of Luke and his mother sat at the court’s bar table.
In Ms Batty’s case, her good relationship with Luke meant child protection deemed her a “protective parent” and closed the case.
She said it underscored how abusers must be made more accountable for their actions, and that federal and state governments were already moving on this.
The chief executive of Domestic Violence Victoria, Fiona McCormack, said Gray’s recommendations were justice for Batty as well as for “thousands and thousands of Victorian women and children now grappling with not just the terror of family violence, but also with a complex and fragmented system”.
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“This is the first time in Australia that family violence has been given such a central focus within any police force”.
