The wife and daughter of a double murderer who shot dead a mother and her teenager in suburban Perth fled their home in fear of their lives and tried repeatedly to warn police about him, his daughter has revealed.
On Friday afternoon Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl were slain in their Floreat home by Mark James Bombara, the former partner of a friend the pair were trying to help.
Ariel Bombara, 27, said she contacted police on three separate occasions to warn them of the "real and imminent threat" her father posed.
"My mother and I made it clear that our lives were at risk – we were repeatedly ignored, repeatedly failed," she said.
"These failures have cost the lives of two incredible women.
"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.
Police Commissioner Col Blanch said police would launch an internal investigation in response to Ms Bombara's claims.
"I want to reinforce that me as the Commissioner and our entire WA Police Force are extremely saddened by the tragic events of Friday," he said.
"And if there's anything that we can do to improve the way we police going forward, the internal investigation will no doubt bore those details out."
Ms Bombara said she felt badly let down.
"My father should always be considered accountable for his actions – they were his actions and his alone," she said.
"However, [there were] authorities who should have helped us stop him and they failed."
After shooting Jennifer and her daughter, Bombara then turned the gun on himself, firing the final shot as officers arrived on Berkeley Crescent.
Police Minister Paul Papalia yesterday said Bombara was licensed to own 13 guns – 11 on a recreational licence and the two handguns he brought with him on Friday on a collector's licence.
Mr Papalia said Bombara had no prior convictions and was only known to police because his ex-partner had requested their attendance when she removed belongings from their property in early April because of previous family domestic violence related issues which were not formally reported to police.
'Imminent' threat to lives
Speaking publicly for the first time, his daughter Ariel said she and her mother fled their family home on March 28 in fear of their lives, speaking with police three times between March 30 and April 2 to raise her concerns.
The first time she spoke to police about their fears, she felt the officer's response "wasn't adequate", so she called another police station.
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"[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 said.
"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."
In speaking to officers, Ms Bombara said she asked police if she and her mother could take out a 72-hour temporary protective order but was told "there was nothing police could do about the situation at the time".
'I felt helpless'
When police officers accompanied them to retrieve belongings from the family home on April 2, Ms Bombara said she raised concerns about guns for a third time.
"By that point we felt completely helpless and I had to focus on getting mum to safety," Ms Bombara said.
Just over seven weeks later, on May 24, Bombara would arrive at the Petelczyc's home looking for his ex-wife, opening fire when he couldn't find her.
Responding to Ms Bombara's claims, Commissioner Blanch said police had submitted a family violence incident report after the women contacted police, but were not able to issue a restraining order.
"The circ*mstances would not have met the threshold of a 72-hour police order," he said.
"What I can say is that we will do a thorough investigation. We will keep the family updated into our investigation."
Ms Bombara said she wanted to apologise to Liesl Petelczyc, the sole surviving Petelczyc family member, for what her father did.
"I’d like to start by saying how truly, deeply sorry I am to Liesl Petelczyc for the losses of her beautiful mother, Jenny, and sister, Gretl; losses she has suffered at the hands of my father’s violence," she said.
Gun law reform
The deaths of Jennifer and Gretl have prompted Mr Papalia to consider further amendments to gun laws currently before parliament, which have already been described as the toughest in the nation.
"I think we'll be acting earlier to remove firearms from premises where there's potential for harm to be done," Mr Papalia said yesterday.
Ms Bombara said while she was supportive of reforms like that as a first step, the issue of family and domestic violence runs much deeper.
"Men will kill regardless of what weapon they use," she said.
"If they want to, they will find a way.
"Nothing will ever change if all of these men in parliament are talking about, you know, let's reduce the number of guns I can have to five.
"He would have murdered her with a different gun.
"It is my unwavering belief that even without his guns, my father would have committed a horrific act of violence [and] likely would have claimed lives.
"What my father did was an act of domestic violence."
Call for systemic change
Ariel Bombara said listening more to women who have experienced a perpetrator's violence first-hand, was the next step governments needed to take.
"There needs to be a massive systemic change made to protect women to ensure that this never happens again," she said.
"Authorities should have helped us to stop him and they failed.
"I felt like we had been sort of failed by the system and naively thought that they were going to help us. We are very disappointed."
She said it was her hope that the actions of her father brought Australia together to "do something about this scourge of domestic violence in our society and start listening to women and protecting them".
WA Police have been contacted for comment.
Premier responds
WA Premier Roger Cook said he understood why Ms Bombara would be distressed.
"We understand she's been through an incredibly harrowing experience," he said.
"(There's) a range of emotions she's experiencing — anger would be one of them.
"I want the police to be responsive to community concerns, to be proactive in responding reports that are placed to them which provide them with more intelligence in relation to criminal behaviour.
"I'm seeking clarification from police in relation to operational matters."
Mr Cook said his government is committed to reducing domestic and family violence.
"We all know that we have to do better as a society," he said.
"We'd consider anything that's on the table when it comes to reducing the impact of family and domestic violence."
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