WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT An Australian court has been told about the day a father returned to his Melbourne home from a routine grocery shopping trip to find his wife and three children had been killed. 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.
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Katie Perinovic was found dead in her Melbourne home along with her three kids in an apparent murder-suicide.
Father came home to find bodies of wife and children, court told smh.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smh.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Katie Perinovic murdered her three young children before killing herself
Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 perished in the Tullamarine home in January
Tom Perinovic had been sending photos of television sets to his wife at the time
She had been diagnosed a schizophrenic and was suffering paranoid delusions
Perinovic was convinced cameras watched her every move inside the home
She had been treated by doctors in the weeks before she murdered her children
The crime scene was described as brutal amid speculation a knife was used
Katie Perinovic murdered her three young children before killing herself
Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 perished in the Tullamarine home this month
Tom Perinovic had been sending photos of television sets to his wife at the time
He returned home at midday to find curtains drawn and his home in darkness
The crime scene was described as brutal amid speculation a knife was used
Mr Perinovic remains a shell of a man as the coroner works to release his kids
On average, one child is killed by a parent almost every fortnight in Australia.
Last week, three children Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 were included in this terrible number. Homicide investigators have formed the “preliminary view” that their mother, Katie Perinovic, was responsible for their deaths before killing herself.
Their grieving father, Tomislav Perinovic, and Katie Perinovic’s parents have reportedly accepted the police’s version of events.
It was less than a year ago that Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey were killed by their father, Rowan Baxter, who doused their car in petrol and set it alight.