John Edwards had 'refresher' shooting course at rifle range before murdering teenage children
Sydney father John Edwards spent 90 minutes improving his shooting accuracy under the supervision of a gun club official less than three months before murdering his children, an inquest has heard.
The inquest into the deaths of Edwards and the two teenage children he killed in July 2018 was told on Tuesday the retired finance planner had a training session at St Marys Pistol Club on 23
April that year where he fired up to 100 rounds of ammunition.
A former senior official who took Edwards and another student for the “refresher” course offered advice and provided them with practice drills.
“He wanted to become more accurate and stop spraying,” the former official told the NSW coroners court on Tuesday. “I can remember him telling me that.”
The official, who cannot be named, said Edwards didn’t stand out to him or raise safety concerns and that he only remembered the training session as the other student had a similar name to his own.
The coroner, Teresa O’Sullivan, is examining the lead-up to Edwards’
execution-style murders of his estranged teenagers, Jack and Jennifer Edwards, including the method in which the 67-year-old acquired weapons.
Despite a long history of domestic violence, Edwards was licensed to operate and possess rifles and pistols when he shot his children on 5 July 2018.
The inquest was told on Tuesday the Firearms Registry had required clubs to send a list of references for licence applicants since 2003. But St Marys Pistol Club, founded in 2000, was not legally required to check the references of people applying for memberships - including those of Edwards when he approached in April 2017.
The inquest on Monday heard officials from a Hornsby-based pistol club rejected Edwards’ membership application in March 2017 and informed a rifle club using the same range of the decision. But that information wasn’t passed on to St Marys.
“At the time of joining, we had no idea (Edwards) went to other clubs and was refused,” a second former St Marys official said on Tuesday. “It would be helpful if all the clubs talked to each other as well ... but there’s no portal. We do it off our own bat.”
Edwards, who stored his three rifles and two pistols at St Marys, removed the handguns from his storage locker on 4 July. His membership had expired four days earlier but Edwards was within a 30-day grace period that allowed him access to the lockers.
“We would not ask anyone where they’re going or what their intention is with their firearm,” the former senior official told the inquest. “No one would ask me about the safe storage at my home.”
Clubs weren’t obliged to share concerns with each other, the inquest has heard.
Ku-ring-gai Pistol Club officials told the inquest on Monday they rejected Edwards’ membership but didn’t believe his “aggressive” and “pushy” behaviour met the threshold of posing a threat to “public safety” that would have forced them to report him to the Firearms Registry. The inquest is expected to conclude on Thursday.