The mother of Luke Batty has moved an inquest into her son’s death to tears telling the court she blames no one for his murder.
Rosie Batty said her ex-partner, Greg Anderson, who killed their 11-year-old son last February “was not bad. He was mad,” directly contrasting police evidence given earlier in the inquest.
“Greg was mentally ill,” she said. “I didn’t have the power or the capacity to make anyone intervene on his behalf.”
In October, a police officer told the court Anderson was “bad, not mad,” because of his “intelligent” and “calculated” ability to manipulate the legal system in his favour. But on Thursday, Batty disagreed.
“He was never seriously apprehended for a thorough analysis and history of his mental health issues, and that is a serious flaw for people who have mental health issues in their own lives and the consequences of their behaviour and sickness on those around them,” she said. “It took its toll on Luke and I.”
It was the second time the inquest into Luke’s death had heard from Batty.
This time, her words were not tabled as evidence, and will not be used by Coroner Ian Gray in forming his recommendations about what, if anything, could have been done by police, child protection and the courts to prevent Anderson, from murdering Luke.
But what she said before Victoria’s Coroner’s court on Thursday, a photo of Luke propped up in front of her, moved barristers and those in the public gallery to tears.
“This should never have happened to him,” she said. “But no one is to blame. And we still have so much to learn.”
Luke was killed by Anderson, Batty’ ex-partner she had known for 20 years, with a cricket bat and a knife on an oval in Tyabb barely 10 months ago.
The inquest into the young boy’s death began in October and since then, police officers, prosecutors, child protection workers, and senior detectives have been among those to give evidence about their interactions with the Battys and Anderson.
Batty was the first to give evidence, and faced a gruelling two-and-a-half days of questioning during which she broke down while describing the exhausting process of managing Anderson’s violent and erratic behaviour.
Since then she has returned to the court every day, flanked by a legal team who have offered her pro bono support, as other witnesses took the stand and gave evidence that at times distressed her and led to her walking out of the room.
She endured this in the hope that lessons will be learned about how systems can better respond to victims of family violence so others might be spared her anguish in the future.
Despite what has ultimately been a harrowing experience for Batty, on Thursday, she thanked all those involved.
“Especially Judge Gray, for your respect and consideration, not just towards myself but to my friends who are also very affected,” she said, crying. “I want to thank my legal team for their support, and everybody for really being here for Luke.
“It has been a journey. I’m sure a lot of you have been in coronial inquests regularly. I trust I will never be in another one.”
Gray responded; “We’ve had Luke’s picture here throughout its entire proceeding, and it’s been very good because it means none of us could have forgotten who this is about.”
Batty also thanked an assistant police commissioner, Luke Cornelius, for the honest and transparent way he had given evidence earlier on Thursday.
“A lot of what you said to the court was really reassuring,” she told him. “Reassuring by acknowledging where you failed, the things you do well, your openness to change and to constantly reflect on your processes.
“My journey, as a person, is to also reflect and become a better person, to use my experiences in life to evolve personally.”
She told the court it had been hard at times having to listen to others give evidence while not being able to speak up and respond to it.
It was clear to her which witnesses had expertise in the area of family violence, and who did not, she said. She hoped in future, the judicial system, police and department of human services would more seriously engage with family violence experts when working out response and prevention strategies.
“As I see it, there has been very little regard for their expertise and the work that they do,” she said. “It was very evident over the past few weeks as I heard the witnesses speak.
“Let me tell you what I know. Without serious intervention, the violence never stops. And in every incident of violence, it gets worse. Those incidents can be years apart.
“I also understand how much further we have to go towards understanding how victims are totally supported through this process, because we are much better at protecting perpetrators.”
The inquest had previously heard that although Batty made sure both she and Luke received counselling to manage their interactions with Anderson, no court ever ordered Anderson receive anger management counselling or a full psychiatric assessment in order to be granted access to his son.
When Luke died, there were four warrants out for Anderson’s arrest, and he was facing 11 charges, mostly family violence-related.
At the end of her speech, Batty asked that a video be played to the court.
It was a tribute to Luke, with pictures of him as a baby; with his family and friends; and with his football club played on a screen above the witness table. A handwritten letter he had written to his mum also flashed on the screen which read; ‘I love you mum’.
Some of the barristers and many members of the public gallery were in tears as the footage played.
“I hope this shows the essence of Luke’s quirky, fun-loving nature and the handsome, beautiful kid he was,” Batty said. “He’s not a statistic. He was a person.”
The inquest concludes Friday.
