Australian police have charged a man with the murder of his wife and two children after discovering their bodies inside their home.
Police said the 47-year-old was charged on Tuesday for what they described as “particularly violent” murder of his 46-year-old wife and their sons aged 12 and four in Campbelltown in the southwest of Sydney.
Officers responded to a call on Raymond Avenue at 7.50pm on Monday and found the three bodies when they entered the home. Superintendent Michael Moroney said that the victims were found in different rooms.
The man was arrested and taken to the Campbelltown police station, where he was charged with three counts of murder.
He did not appear in the Campbelltown local court for a hearing. His lawyer, Jawad Hosain, said that his client was “distressed”.
"It's obviously a tragic set of circumstances," Mr Hosain said.
"At this stage we don't wish to comment on the proceedings,” the lawyer said. “My client enjoys his right to the presumption of innocence."
He’s yet to enter a plea, however.
The man was set to remain in jail after the judge formally refused bail and adjourned until 15 July, when the accused was expected to appear via video link.
Mr Moroney said he would not comment on how the three people were killed. The exact circumstances surrounding the domestic violence, he added, remained unclear.
"What this does is really highlight the scourge that domestic violence is across the community," he said, adding that the family was not known to police.
Mr Moroney said the accused himself apparently called police to say “an incident had happened at that location and he was requesting police to that scene”.
Police commissioner Mal Lanyon on Tuesday called it “a terrible tragedy".
"I think if you look at the situation, we now have a woman and two young children who've passed away. We have a person before the court charged with murder," he said. "I am very limited with what I can say, obviously, with the man before the court. But unfortunately, we do see these incidents too frequently in society."
In a four-day state-wide operation to crackdown on domestic violence offenders, the New South Wales police recently charged over 900 alleged offenders. Amarok XIII, which ran from 13 to 16 May, was an intelligence-led, offender-focussed operation aimed at ensuring “the safety and wellbeing of domestic and family violence victims and the broader NSW community”, police said.
“Across the four days, 993 people were arrested and charged, with 299 arrest warrants executed,” they said.
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