No way to avoid shooting tragedy

THE murder-suicide of seven people at a rural property in Western Australia could never have been predicted and the cause may never be known, the state’s premier says.

Peter Miles, 61, his 58-yearold wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina, 35, and her four children – daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, eight – were found dead at Forever Dreaming Farm in Osmington on Friday.

Three guns licensed to Mr Miles were found at the property and the family all suffered gunshot wounds.

“Everyone is shocked and surprised. It’s not like anyone had an inkling what was going to happen and, of course, the perpetrator is no longer with us – he can’t tell,” Premier Mark McGowan said yesterday.

“Why he did it, what he did, you can only ever surmise.”

Asked if he thought the community would ever know the reasons, Mr McGowan replied: “Probably not.”

“As far as I’m aware, there was no evidence that he had any sort of mental-health issues that could have resulted in the firearms being removed from him, so it’s not one of those situations where you could have predicted what might occur.”

Mr McGowan visited Margaret River on Sunday and spent half an hour with Aaron Cockman, the father of the four children, and other family members.

“He’s obviously a grieving father and he’s going through a difficult time,” the Premier said.

“It’s a shocking, unexpected, awful tragedy and lots of people will suffer for years to come out of this.”

The Premier also met the two police officers who were first at the scene just after 6am on Friday.

“They did everything by the book ... they went there ready for any sort of danger and they

AS FAR AS I’M AWARE, THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE THAT HE HAD ANY SORT OF MENTALHEALTH ISSUES

found what is no doubt one of the most confronting scenes anyone could ever find.”

Mr McGowan expects a police report for the coroner to be ready within the next couple of months.

Mr Cockman on Sunday speculated Mr Miles “thought this through” and shot his daughter and her children, as they lay in their beds.

Mr Cockman had been embroiled in a bitter dispute with Katrina about access to the children, and blamed her parents, saying they “cut me off from my kids”.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

WA PREMIER MARK MCGOWAN