- Boy dead, police shoot father in Tyabb
- By Jane Lee & Jessica Wright
- 13/02/2014 Make a Comment (4)
- Contributed by: Bewitched ( 29 articles in 2014 )
An 11-year-old boy and his father have died after police shot the man at a sports oval on the Mornington Peninsula.
Commander Doug Fryer said four local police officers arrived at the oval on Frankston-Flinders Road in Tyabb on Wednesday evening shortly after having been called there by ambulance staff.
Police would not say if the father inflicted the boy's injuries. On Thursday morning they confirmed that the father died in hospital at 1.30am.
Police confirmed they shot the 54-year-old Chelsea Heights man in the chest after they were called to the oval on Frankston-Flinders Road after reports that a boy had sustained head injuries.
The boy was treated by paramedics at the scene but was unable to be revived. Polcie corrected earlier reports that the boy was 12.
A junior cricket team had just finished training at the time. Police arrived and were confronted with a man holding a knife.
They tried to talk him down but were unsuccessful. They then tried to subdue him with capsicum foam and later shot him once in the chest, Commander Fryer said.
"This was a dynamic, live critical incident. I won't comment on their exact conduct," he said.
He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said paramedics had also treated a man in his 50s for chest injuries, and flew him to The Alfred hospital.
Commander Fryer said the boy's injuries were "significant" and "quite brutal". His father sustained life-threatening injuries.
He said police had already spoken to witnesses at the scene, including some children, and called for others who police believed had yet to come forward to call CrimeStoppers.
He would not confirm or deny reports from witnesses on social media of an altercation between the father and the son beforehand.
He would not comment on what else police saw at the scene, but said that the incident was "complicated" and involved other locations.
Commander Fryer said that Homicide Squad was now investigating the boy's death and that Professional Standards Command was looking into the police officers' conduct.
He also said that IBAC had also been called and would provide further oversight.
Rosie Batty, Luke's mother
Commander Fryer said the boy's mother had been told of his death and was distraught: "The mother has been advised, she was in the vicinity at the time but I can't go into the details of what she saw."
"The death of a young child is always going to be horrific and I don't know how the mother's going to cope, she probably never will be able to."
Commander Fryer said the boy's father and mother were enstranged.
Police have cordoned off the oval, at Bunguyan Reserve in Tyabb, where a number of local sports clubs play, including the Tyabb Tennis Club and Tyabb Football Club.
Wayne Murray, who lives about 200 metres from the oval, said that junior cricket and football teams were playing on the oval when the police shooting happened.
"I was having tea, I walked out the back door about 30 seconds after I heard the police (drive in)...things had gone quiet and I went to turn around and you hear a pop-pop," he said.
"It was absolute chaos once the first ambulance rolled in, a lot of police came in and then the air ambulance came in and landed on the oval.
The oval was cleared shortly afterwards.
Local Taylor Le brun, 16, came to the oval after she learned of the incident from neighbours.
"It's unexpected so what could happen now? Because this has happened, what's next? You can't underestimate anyone now apparently."
The mother of an 11-year-old Victorian boy murdered by his father at cricket training has described her son as a sensitive boy who enjoyed his sport and, most of all, loved his dad.
Luke Batty was killed by his estranged father, who was then fatally shot by police, in front of horrified children and parents at the Tyabb cricket oval on Wednesday evening.
Paramedics tried to revive the boy, a year six pupil at Flinders Christian Community College, but he died at the scene from head injuries.
**********************************************************************************
Luke Batty, 11, was killed on Wednesday evening at a sports oval in Melbourne's south-east.
Luke's devastated mother, Rosie Batty, was at the cricket ground when the tragedy unfolded: “I'm in shock, disbelief, but (I've had) amazing support from family and friends.
"My family are from England and they are coming out now."
Rosie said she had to be convinced by police that Luke's dad, Gregory Anderson, had murdered their only son.
"He loved his son. Everyone that's involved with children would know that whatever action they take is not because they don't love them.
"No-one loved Luke more than Greg, his father. No-one loved Luke more than me. We both loved him."
She revealed she had been the victim of family violence and believes that her former partner had suffered from undiagnosed mental illness for two decades.
Left:Greg Anderson, Rosie Batty and toddler Luke. Rosie wants people to see this photograph to encourage men to seek help.
She said she had an AVO against Greg, but insisted he loved Luke and did not believe he would ever hurt their son.
In fact, Rosie said Luke was the 'only bright light' in his dad's troubled life....
Paying tribute to her son, Rosie described Luke as a funny and effervescent boy with a passion for cricket and footy.
"Luke was nearly as tall as me. He was sensitive. He loved his dad and he felt pain because his dad, he knew, was struggling.
"He enjoyed his footy, he enjoyed his cricket. He has drama, he was effervescent, he was funny.
"He wasn't the best scholar, but he was intelligent. He enjoyed his school at Flinders.
"He was a little boy in a growing body that felt pain and sadness and fear for his mum, and he always believed he would be safe with his dad," she said.
"He always believed he would be safe with his dad and he trusted Greg.
"[I told him] 'you'll always love your dad. You won't always like what they do or say, but you'll always love your dad, and he'll always love you'."
Effervescent and funny, intelligent and sensitive, a little boy in a growing body who loved his father and worried for his mother.
That is how Rosie Batty will remember her 11-year-old son Luke, who died at the hands of his estranged father, Greg Anderson, on Wednesday night.
As she came to terms with the brutal resolution of the 11-year-battle with her boy's troubled father, she said she was comfortable with her decision to keep the volatile man in their lives.
"I did what I believed was in the best interest of Luke," Ms Batty, originally from England, said.
"It's a tragic situation that no one could see was going to happen."
She trusted Luke was safe with the man who loved him.
Even after the ambulance was called to the oval in Tyabb on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula where Anderson beat and stabbed the young cricketer, she had not grasped what had happened.
"It was only later that it became apparent that it may not have been an accident and that it may have been premeditated and it was the worst possible outcome," Ms Batty said.
"As a sane person, or as a caring parent, you trust the very person who killed him, loved him, and they did love him, they loved him more than anyone else."
It was a love that was returned.
Ms Batty's only child's death came after he asked to spend five more minutes with the man he rarely saw.
"He loved his dad and he felt pain because his dad, he knew, was struggling," Ms Batty said.
"He felt for his dad. He knew he was in a sad place."
The outcome, she said, was another tragedy of family violence in the most "sad, sad, sad, sad" way.
Her estranged husband, who lived in the Melbourne suburb of Chelsea Heights, was on a path of desperation.
"Nobody could have helped Greg any more. I tried, his family tried, everybody tried."
Over 20 years she had watched him change from a person who would brush off losing a job to someone who was unemployable.
He had mental health problems and experienced bouts of homelessness.
"Everything he did, failed. He was a failure and he knew it," she said.
Nevertheless, she wanted her boy to know his father.
"I felt the only real avenue was for a child to know his father," she said.
"And I still don't regret that. A child grows up without his father, he grows up with other issues."
"What I wanted to achieve was that he knew he was loved."
She said she wanted Luke's friends to remember him as he had been, rather than how he spent his final minutes.
"I'd like to remember him in a joyous way," she said.
.....
KILLER dad Greg Anderson was an angry and confused man who regularly smoked marijuana and resented his ex-partner for not allowing him to see their son, friends say.
A former housemate said Anderson resented his ex-partner for not allowing him to see his son.
Anderson saw conspiracies at every turn, blaming the police and his ex-partner for the problems in his life, he said, and often carried a knife.
Despite becoming spiritual in recent months, he could not control his rage.
“He thought the police were out to get him and thought it was all his ex’s fault for not letting him see his son,” the man said.
“It was everyone’s fault but his. He was very confused, very angry and very violent, especially for someone who was meant to be spiritual.”
His flatmate, who did not give his name, said he came across Anderson through the Hare Krishna temple in June last year.
He said they felt sorry for the drifter and offered to be a bail address for him so he could be released following a police charge.
But his mental health spiralled out of control and members of the household were forced to call the police on the Australia Day weekend, when he threatened to kill one of them.
“He was a big bloke, really intimidating. He was doing all types of strange things, lot of standover-type of behaviour.
“He would brandish knives and do strange things with hammers. He had real psychological problems and we didn’t know who to call.
“In the end we had to call the police and take out an intervention order.”
One of Anderson’s friends told the Herald Sun that the troubled drifter was a heavy user of marijuana.
Steve, who asked for his surname not to be published, said: “He was a tortured soul. He smoked a lot and I think that affected his mind.
“I last saw him about a week and a half ago when he stayed the night.
“He said he had been living with an older man but things had turned ugly. He had nothing, just a bag of clothes and $10 on him.”
Steve said Anderson often spoke about Luke.
“Greg was always looking forward to seeing his son,” he said.
“But the drugs really affected him. It’s tragic. I really feel for the mother.”
Anderson had been in and out of homeless shelters since 2006.
He was last taken to a homeless shelter on January 28 to be assessed for crisis accommodation after he was booted from his last home for threatening to kill his housemate.
Sources:
https://www.theage.com.au/victoria/boy-dead-police-shoot-father-in-tyabb-20140212-32iff.html
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/rosie-batty-mother-of-luke-batty-11-tells-of-heartbreak-after-his-death-at-hands-of-his-father-at-tyabb-cricket-oval/story-fni0fee2-1226825088945
https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/21428461/boy-dead-vic-police-shoot-father/
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/luke-battys-final-haunting-words-to-his-mum-rosie-batty/story-fni0fee2-1226828259886
https://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/sensitive-vic-boy-loved-his-killer-dad-20140213-32n5i.html
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/how-luke-battys-father-descended-into-a-deadly-madness/story-fni0ffnk-1226828297392
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/killer-dad-greg-anderson-was-an-angry-confused-and-tortured-man-friends-say/story-fni0ffnk-1226827623459
Commander Doug Fryer said four local police officers arrived at the oval on Frankston-Flinders Road in Tyabb on Wednesday evening shortly after having been called there by ambulance staff.
Police would not say if the father inflicted the boy's injuries. On Thursday morning they confirmed that the father died in hospital at 1.30am.
Police confirmed they shot the 54-year-old Chelsea Heights man in the chest after they were called to the oval on Frankston-Flinders Road after reports that a boy had sustained head injuries.
The boy was treated by paramedics at the scene but was unable to be revived. Polcie corrected earlier reports that the boy was 12.
A junior cricket team had just finished training at the time. Police arrived and were confronted with a man holding a knife.
They tried to talk him down but were unsuccessful. They then tried to subdue him with capsicum foam and later shot him once in the chest, Commander Fryer said.
"This was a dynamic, live critical incident. I won't comment on their exact conduct," he said.
He was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said paramedics had also treated a man in his 50s for chest injuries, and flew him to The Alfred hospital.
Commander Fryer said the boy's injuries were "significant" and "quite brutal". His father sustained life-threatening injuries.
He said police had already spoken to witnesses at the scene, including some children, and called for others who police believed had yet to come forward to call CrimeStoppers.
He would not confirm or deny reports from witnesses on social media of an altercation between the father and the son beforehand.
He would not comment on what else police saw at the scene, but said that the incident was "complicated" and involved other locations.
Commander Fryer said that Homicide Squad was now investigating the boy's death and that Professional Standards Command was looking into the police officers' conduct.
He also said that IBAC had also been called and would provide further oversight.
Rosie Batty, Luke's motherCommander Fryer said the boy's mother had been told of his death and was distraught: "The mother has been advised, she was in the vicinity at the time but I can't go into the details of what she saw."
"The death of a young child is always going to be horrific and I don't know how the mother's going to cope, she probably never will be able to."
Commander Fryer said the boy's father and mother were enstranged.
Police have cordoned off the oval, at Bunguyan Reserve in Tyabb, where a number of local sports clubs play, including the Tyabb Tennis Club and Tyabb Football Club.
Wayne Murray, who lives about 200 metres from the oval, said that junior cricket and football teams were playing on the oval when the police shooting happened.
"I was having tea, I walked out the back door about 30 seconds after I heard the police (drive in)...things had gone quiet and I went to turn around and you hear a pop-pop," he said.
"It was absolute chaos once the first ambulance rolled in, a lot of police came in and then the air ambulance came in and landed on the oval.
The oval was cleared shortly afterwards.
Local Taylor Le brun, 16, came to the oval after she learned of the incident from neighbours.
"It's unexpected so what could happen now? Because this has happened, what's next? You can't underestimate anyone now apparently."
The mother of an 11-year-old Victorian boy murdered by his father at cricket training has described her son as a sensitive boy who enjoyed his sport and, most of all, loved his dad.
Luke Batty was killed by his estranged father, who was then fatally shot by police, in front of horrified children and parents at the Tyabb cricket oval on Wednesday evening.
Paramedics tried to revive the boy, a year six pupil at Flinders Christian Community College, but he died at the scene from head injuries.
**********************************************************************************
UPDATES
Boy dead, Vic police shoot father
February 13, 2014, 3:03 pmLuke Batty, 11, was killed on Wednesday evening at a sports oval in Melbourne's south-east.
Luke's devastated mother, Rosie Batty, was at the cricket ground when the tragedy unfolded: “I'm in shock, disbelief, but (I've had) amazing support from family and friends.
"My family are from England and they are coming out now."
Rosie said she had to be convinced by police that Luke's dad, Gregory Anderson, had murdered their only son.
"He loved his son. Everyone that's involved with children would know that whatever action they take is not because they don't love them.
"No-one loved Luke more than Greg, his father. No-one loved Luke more than me. We both loved him."
She revealed she had been the victim of family violence and believes that her former partner had suffered from undiagnosed mental illness for two decades.Left:Greg Anderson, Rosie Batty and toddler Luke. Rosie wants people to see this photograph to encourage men to seek help.
She said she had an AVO against Greg, but insisted he loved Luke and did not believe he would ever hurt their son.
In fact, Rosie said Luke was the 'only bright light' in his dad's troubled life....
Paying tribute to her son, Rosie described Luke as a funny and effervescent boy with a passion for cricket and footy.
"Luke was nearly as tall as me. He was sensitive. He loved his dad and he felt pain because his dad, he knew, was struggling.
"He enjoyed his footy, he enjoyed his cricket. He has drama, he was effervescent, he was funny."He wasn't the best scholar, but he was intelligent. He enjoyed his school at Flinders.
"He was a little boy in a growing body that felt pain and sadness and fear for his mum, and he always believed he would be safe with his dad," she said.
"He always believed he would be safe with his dad and he trusted Greg.
"[I told him] 'you'll always love your dad. You won't always like what they do or say, but you'll always love your dad, and he'll always love you'."
Sensitive Vic boy loved his killer dad
February 13, 2014 - 6:55PMEffervescent and funny, intelligent and sensitive, a little boy in a growing body who loved his father and worried for his mother.
That is how Rosie Batty will remember her 11-year-old son Luke, who died at the hands of his estranged father, Greg Anderson, on Wednesday night.
As she came to terms with the brutal resolution of the 11-year-battle with her boy's troubled father, she said she was comfortable with her decision to keep the volatile man in their lives.
"I did what I believed was in the best interest of Luke," Ms Batty, originally from England, said.
"It's a tragic situation that no one could see was going to happen."
She trusted Luke was safe with the man who loved him.
Even after the ambulance was called to the oval in Tyabb on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula where Anderson beat and stabbed the young cricketer, she had not grasped what had happened.
"It was only later that it became apparent that it may not have been an accident and that it may have been premeditated and it was the worst possible outcome," Ms Batty said.
"As a sane person, or as a caring parent, you trust the very person who killed him, loved him, and they did love him, they loved him more than anyone else."
It was a love that was returned.
Ms Batty's only child's death came after he asked to spend five more minutes with the man he rarely saw.
"He loved his dad and he felt pain because his dad, he knew, was struggling," Ms Batty said.
"He felt for his dad. He knew he was in a sad place."
The outcome, she said, was another tragedy of family violence in the most "sad, sad, sad, sad" way.
Her estranged husband, who lived in the Melbourne suburb of Chelsea Heights, was on a path of desperation.
"Nobody could have helped Greg any more. I tried, his family tried, everybody tried."
Over 20 years she had watched him change from a person who would brush off losing a job to someone who was unemployable.
He had mental health problems and experienced bouts of homelessness.
"Everything he did, failed. He was a failure and he knew it," she said.
Nevertheless, she wanted her boy to know his father.
"I felt the only real avenue was for a child to know his father," she said.
"And I still don't regret that. A child grows up without his father, he grows up with other issues."
"What I wanted to achieve was that he knew he was loved."
She said she wanted Luke's friends to remember him as he had been, rather than how he spent his final minutes.
"I'd like to remember him in a joyous way," she said.
.....
KILLER dad Greg Anderson was an angry and confused man who regularly smoked marijuana and resented his ex-partner for not allowing him to see their son, friends say.
A former housemate said Anderson resented his ex-partner for not allowing him to see his son.
Anderson saw conspiracies at every turn, blaming the police and his ex-partner for the problems in his life, he said, and often carried a knife.
Despite becoming spiritual in recent months, he could not control his rage.
“He thought the police were out to get him and thought it was all his ex’s fault for not letting him see his son,” the man said.
“It was everyone’s fault but his. He was very confused, very angry and very violent, especially for someone who was meant to be spiritual.”
His flatmate, who did not give his name, said he came across Anderson through the Hare Krishna temple in June last year.
He said they felt sorry for the drifter and offered to be a bail address for him so he could be released following a police charge.
But his mental health spiralled out of control and members of the household were forced to call the police on the Australia Day weekend, when he threatened to kill one of them.
“He was a big bloke, really intimidating. He was doing all types of strange things, lot of standover-type of behaviour.
“He would brandish knives and do strange things with hammers. He had real psychological problems and we didn’t know who to call.
“In the end we had to call the police and take out an intervention order.”
One of Anderson’s friends told the Herald Sun that the troubled drifter was a heavy user of marijuana.
Steve, who asked for his surname not to be published, said: “He was a tortured soul. He smoked a lot and I think that affected his mind.
“I last saw him about a week and a half ago when he stayed the night.
“He said he had been living with an older man but things had turned ugly. He had nothing, just a bag of clothes and $10 on him.”
Steve said Anderson often spoke about Luke.
“Greg was always looking forward to seeing his son,” he said.
“But the drugs really affected him. It’s tragic. I really feel for the mother.”
Anderson had been in and out of homeless shelters since 2006.
He was last taken to a homeless shelter on January 28 to be assessed for crisis accommodation after he was booted from his last home for threatening to kill his housemate.
Sources:
https://www.theage.com.au/victoria/boy-dead-police-shoot-father-in-tyabb-20140212-32iff.html
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/rosie-batty-mother-of-luke-batty-11-tells-of-heartbreak-after-his-death-at-hands-of-his-father-at-tyabb-cricket-oval/story-fni0fee2-1226825088945
https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/21428461/boy-dead-vic-police-shoot-father/
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/luke-battys-final-haunting-words-to-his-mum-rosie-batty/story-fni0fee2-1226828259886
https://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/sensitive-vic-boy-loved-his-killer-dad-20140213-32n5i.html
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/how-luke-battys-father-descended-into-a-deadly-madness/story-fni0ffnk-1226828297392
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/killer-dad-greg-anderson-was-an-angry-confused-and-tortured-man-friends-say/story-fni0ffnk-1226827623459
Every body has mental aberrations to some degree. Sometimes people will label you with a mental illness. Point is how and where did this mental condition come from, let's say in the case of Greg Anderson?
Was he born with it or was it a genetic or social environment induced manifestation that developed throughout childhood or adulthood?
Was it too much substance abuse or was it levels of stress, far in excess of what maybe considered normal, that caused such erratic behaviour as described above?
If stress, how did it originate? Job losses, relationship problems, immaturity, drug addictions, not seeing his flesh and blood (Luke his son), court appearances and systemic abuse by courts and police, homelessness, abandonment, fear, loss of love, faith and hope in himself, from family or anybody, or in god?
Of course, we will never now know, because death is an eraser of evidence and the truth.
Speaking of the truth, I have a mental illness but where do I really go for solid mature experience and value packed support to get healed and integrated back into a life of fulfillment? Not just told to sign the medicare slip and return each week/month like some mindless robotic sheep. While the professionals get financially rewarded, all under the guise of helping me, I remain penniless, helpless and hopeless wondering why I waste my time coming. Perhaps a new fee structure needs to be worked out - no benefit, no get paid?
Whats more there is a range of health professionals that can be great right through to the cooky and ones who attempt to control you so you keep coming back. It's one hell of a racket.
But what of effectiveness and results that improve and advance your life? For all your attendances and effort, are you assured of such an outcome that you will be happy with? After all, there has to be a positive exchange, a transaction where you come out with some type of gain, surely?
The answer clearly is - who really knows and what's more, nobody is liable nor cares.
The government doesn't care about men either - period, indicated by it's lack of services to help people like me or men in general. They say Greg Anderson didn't seek help but perhaps he did, and nought was available. Nil desperandum they might have said but who was really there to help him and in turn keep this kid alive today?
You see I have been in some bad places, maybe worse or better than Mr Anderson I will never know, but the fact remains where is the real help for men, and I don't just mean fancy doctors and places who push drugs onto you so they can get their cute little kickbacks, or those psychs who attempt to turn you into some poof or gay variety either, just so you will conform to some social behavioural norm set by those who try and control us men. Don't believe me, have a look for yourself.
Men, unlike women do not give birth nor raise children for the establishment and workforce to keep industry and profits churning along for those at the top enjoying the luxuries from the labour of men. Men are expendable just as in wars.
I am deeply sorry that this poor boy has lost this mortal life, unless this is what he has contracted for his life. I doubt it, but it's something we do not know.
I verily believe that most men (99%) who under normal conditions without exacerbated and prolonged levels of undue stress in life, would never ever intentionally kill a child, let alone their flesh and blood. For good fathers are the protectors of the family, just as mothers are of their young. Unless we are talking about people who are plain evil, in which case gender becomes irrelevant.
Without visual and first hand evidence of what happened to Luke on that evening of cricket training, or getting inside the head of Mr Anderson, we will never fully understand what led to such a tragic loss of life, however we can ensure that services to men are ramped up exponentially negating such a thought or action from ever occurring again!
Don't hold your breath fellas, but let's see what happens and if anyone really cares enough to do the right thing.
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