Rosie Batty hits out at child protection

Rosie Batty says child protection workers offered her counselling instead of focusing on the violent and criminal behaviour of her ex-partner who went on to murder their son.

Rosie Batty

Rosie Batty leaves the Coroners Court of Victoria in Melbourne on Tuesday. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)

Ms Batty described managing the relationship between her son Luke and his father Greg Anderson as an "extreme juggling" act, and said she was often left exasperated by the actions of police and social workers.

"I was hoping someone was going to step in and help me protect Luke and take some weight off my shoulders," she told the inquest into Luke's death.

"I wanted support, I wanted other people to step in to make some decisions so it wasn't just me facing Greg.

"The only suggestion they have is to have counselling.

"No one spoke to Greg. If he stopped being violent I wouldn't need counselling."

Anderson murdered his 11-year-old son by hitting him with a cricket bat then attacking him with a knife while they played together in the nets following cricket training in Tyabb in February. The 54-year-old was shot by police and died in hospital.

Ms Batty has told the Victorian Coroners Court she considered calling police when Anderson turned up at the cricket oval the night Luke died but decided not to.

She said previous attempts to have Anderson arrested at the oval had proved traumatic and unpredictable.

Ms Batty said she was left in tears after trying to have Anderson arrested in April 2013 when he arrived at the oval in defiance of a court order preventing contact with his son and in breach of his bail conditions.

On that occasion, Ms Batty said police told her they could not arrest him because they did not have a warrant.

Ms Batty said she feared Anderson may have been contemplating killing Luke in a murder-suicide but did not believe it would ever happen in a public place like the oval.

She told the inquest she started believing Anderson could pose a risk to Luke when he showed the boy a knife and told him "this could be the one to end it all" in April 2013.

"I didn't know if Greg was referring to his own suicide tendencies or if he would like to have a joint suicide," she said on Tuesday.

"That image of him harming him couldn't happen in a public place.

"It couldn't happen at the Tyabb oval, but it bloody did."

She described Anderson as loving and overprotective of Luke and never considered him a genuine threat to Luke's life.

"I knew about Darcey Freeman, I knew about the Farquharson boys, but I didn't know what those fathers were like with their sons. I didn't know Greg was capable of killing."

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467.


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Source: AAP


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