Sydney dad intended to die with family, coroner finds

A father who killed his wife and two children by releasing carbon monoxide gas into their home as they slept intended to kill himself as well, a coroner said.

Inquest finds Sydney father Fernando Manrique (left) ‘killed family and self’ by poison gas. Source: Supplied

A Sydney father intended to die alongside his wife and two children when he unleashed a lethal gas that killed them as they slept, a NSW coroner has found.

Fernando Manrique, 44, and his wife Maria Lutz, 43, were about to divorce when they were found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning along with their children Elisa, 11, and Martin, 10, and the family dog, Tequila, in their northern Sydney home in October 2016.

The inquest had previously been told Manrique was in financial strife and having an affair with a teenager in the Philippines when he killed himself and his family.

He owed at least $15,000 to the tax office, had $28,000 in credit card debts and was struggling to pay off the family's two mortgages totaling more than $500,000.

Despite his debts, Mr Manrique was also supporting a woman he was in a "serious relationship" with in the Philippines, where he travelled for work each month.

The woman, known only as Jamilyn, was 17 when she met Mr Manrique in 2015 at a bar where she worked.

Deputy state coroner Elaine Truscott on Friday ruled Manrique's death a suicide and emphasised he had acted alone in killing his family.

"The evidence establishes that it was just after Maria had told Fernando that the marriage was over and he had to find somewhere else to live that he put into action his plan to take their lives," she said.

Parents of school children view inscriptions on a memorial bench during a memorial service for the Manrique-Lutz family at St Lucy's School in Wahroonga. Source: AAP

"Their lives were stolen by someone who should have been their protector and provider."

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