Farmer 'may have just snapped': court

When Lorraine Bourke saw the woman who she helped care for, Kim Hunt, lying dead in her driveway in rural NSW, she quickly came to a chilling realisation.

Flowers left at the entrance to the Hunt family farm in Lockhart

A support worker will give evidence at the inquest into the deaths of the Hunt family in Lockhart. (AAP)

As soon as her carer saw Kim Hunt had been shot, she knew Mrs Hunt's husband was responsible.

Lorraine Burke says when she saw Mrs Hunt lying in the driveway of the family's Lockhart farm, she thought she had taken a fall.

But when she knelt down to remove the jackets lying over Mrs Hunt's head she realised the mother-of-three had been shot.

"Straight away, I thought to myself 'He's shot her'."

In a statement tendered on Wednesday to the inquest into the deaths of Mrs Hunt, her husband Geoff, and their three children, Ms Burke described how she had arrived for work on September 9 last year and saw Mrs Hunt lying on the ground outside.

"I ran back inside whilst talking to the triple-zero operator. I don't really recall what I was saying, when I noticed what appeared to be a handwritten note on the table," Ms Burke wrote in her statement.

"The note was placed on top of a place mat that Phoebe had made for Geoff as a Father's Day present."

The note, written in black texta on a sheet of A4 paper in Mr Hunt's handwriting, read: "I'm sorry. It's all my fault. Totally mine."

State Coroner Michael Barnes has been told the evidence suggests Mr Hunt shot his wife dead before going inside the house and shooting each of his children dead as they lay in bed.

It's believed he then drove down to the family's dam and took his own life.

Ms Burke, who worked closely with the family in the two years before their deaths, said she believed Mr Hunt loved his children and had done all he could to support his wife despite her mood swings and rages since a 2012 accident left her with brain and spinal injuries.

"For all the money in the world, I could not see why this terrible tragedy happened. Geoff was always a quiet and gentle man who appeared to be looking forward to the future with Kim and the three kids," Ms Burke wrote in her statement.

"I can only assume that Geoff was under immense pressure in many aspects of his life, including living with Kim's disability and her changed personality and may have simply just snapped.

"I never saw anything like this in Geoff to suggest he would do such a thing."

The inquest at Wagga Wagga Courthouse continues.


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Source: AAP


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