An elderly Victorian man shot his wife in the master bedroom of their 300-acre property as the couple grappled with significant financial and health problems, a coroner has found. The murder-suicide deaths of Arthur and Gwen Smith, both 91, sent shockwaves through the farming community of Parwan, west of Melbourne, in July 2018. The pair was found dead in their property on Smiths Road in Parwan on July 25 and a firearm was found under Mr Smith s body. On Friday, the Coroners Court of Victoria was told there was no indication Mrs Smith was aware or agreeable to her husband s actions. State Coroner Judge John Cain said the elderly Mrs Smith had struggled with depression for years while her husband had grappled with health complications after surgery.
Father came home to find bodies of wife and children, court told
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WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A court has been told about the day a Melbourne father returned home from a routine grocery shopping trip to find his wife and three children had been killed.
The Perinovic family.
The bodies of 42-year-old Katica “Katie” Perinovic and her children Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3, were discovered inside their Tullamarine home on January 14.
Ms Perinovic and the children each had injuries consistent with knife wounds, the Coroners Court of Victoria heard on Wednesday.
Homicide detectives said Ms Perinovic was responsible for all four deaths.