Luke Batty inquest finds murder by father was unforeseeable

Melbourne : Rosie Batty has said she has “a degree of closure” after an inquest found her son’s death at the hands of his father could not have been foreseen. Luke, 11, was bashed with a bat and stabbed to death by his father Greg Anderson at a public cricket ground in Tyabb, outside Melbourne in 2014.The case forced domestic violence onto the national agenda in Australia.Coroner Ian Gray found Anderson was “solely responsible” for Luke’s death and did not blame authorities.”No-one person or agency could have reasonably been expected to foresee that Mr Anderson would be that rare perpetrator and Luke that rare victim of a violent filicide,” he said. “I find that there is no validated risk-assessment tool that can accurately predict whether a parent is likely to commit filicide.”The coroner spoke of several missed opportunities to engage Anderson in the mental health system.Anderson was shot by police after threatening them with a knife when they tried to detain him. He died later in hospital.