Police accused of not passing on killer dad's death threat; dad beat son to death just weeks later (Victoria, Australia)

We've posted on killer dad GREG ANDERSON several times. The apparent daddy coddling and incompetence just gets more and more apparent. Unfortunately, a little boy died a horrendous death because of these idiots.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/14/luke-batty-case-police-accused-of-not-passing-on-killers-death-threat

Luke Batty case: police accused of not passing on killer's death threat

Greg Anderson's former housemate tells Four Corners that Anderson threatened to cut his head off

theguardian.com, Monday 14 July 2014 07.17 EDT

Victoria police have been accused of not passing on a death threat made by Luke Batty’s father, who killed his son on a public cricket pitch just weeks afterwards.

A former housemate of Greg Anderson, Luke’s father, told ABC’s Four Corners on Monday night that Anderson had threatened to cut his head off.

The threat followed Anderson’s arrest for looking at child pornography on computers in a public library.

Rosie Batty, Luke’s mother and Anderson’s former partner, was not initially informed of the pornography arrest and was unaware of the death threat, even when police called her to ask where Anderson was living.

Just a week after the call from police, Anderson turned up at Luke’s midweek cricket practice in Tyabb, Victoria, on 12 February this year.

He killed Luke with a cricket bat and a knife in front of an eight-year-old child. Police shot Anderson at the scene and he died in hospital.

Rosie Batty said the police’s failure to inform her of the threat was “gravely concerning".

"A lot of us are very careless, saying, 'I could kill you, you know, you're driving me mad,' or throwaway angry comments, but to actually say ... to decapitate someone. They're not light comments."

Ken Lay, Victoria’s police commissioner, said a coronial inquest constrained what he could say about the case. “Look, if I put myself in the position of the victim, you want to be in possession of every bit of information you possibly can be,” he told Four Corners.

“I wasn’t aware of that, but again that may well be indicative of police members not being in possession of all the facts, once again.”

There were four warrants out for Anderson’s arrest at the time of Luke’s murder. He had previously been served an intervention order after threatening Rosie at her home, but was allowed to have contact with Luke away from the house.

Rosie said her son had told her of a conversation he had had with Anderson about a knife. She said Anderson had “said something like, ‘It could all end with this,’ and mentioned to Luke that he wished he could go into the next life, that he was tired of this life”.

She added: “And from my memory, I got the impression that that was a journey he’d like to go on with Luke. And I immediately felt sickened, and that all the years I’d defended my decision for Greg to be Luke’s father, and totally convinced that Luke was always safe with Greg, when Luke shared that with me I no longer had that confidence at all, ever again.”

A court ordered that Anderson have no further contact with his son. Anderson challenged the ruling and Batty learned of the child pornography charge against him at the hearing.

“I just thought, ‘Is there anything more that I’m going to find out about this man?’ ” she said.

Since her son’s death, Batty has become an advocate for family violence prevention, with the topic becoming an election issue in Victoria.

“I had a beautiful boy and in Feb something happened to take him away from me,” she said. “Greg won. He took him and he said to me I can make you suffer for the rest of your life. But inside all of us is amazing strength … he may have taken Luke but he hasn’t taken me.”

Dr Chris Atmore, senior policy adviser at the Federation of Community Legal Centres, said the issues highlighted by Luke’s murder needed to be met with urgent government action.

“Sadly, many women remain outside the system supposed to help them, while those within it are placed at often lethal risk by fundamental systemic flaws,” she said.

“Different parts of the system – police, courts and child protection – need to share information to enable proper risk assessment and management, including sharing all relevant information with women who have intervention orders.

“We also need to tighten the net around men who commit family violence by holding them to account when they commit violence and flout intervention orders, and work intensively with them where change is possible.

“Above all, however, we need to strengthen the supports for women and children facing family violence, including the free legal support that can be vital in securing their safety.”