Chilling details of a series of desperate phone calls made in the final minutes of their lives by a teenager and her mother who were shot dead at their Perth home have been aired for the first time in a Perth court.
WARNING: This story contains details that may distress some readers.
Gretl Petelczyc, 18, and her 59-year-old mother Jennifer were killed by Mark Bombara at their home in the suburb of Floreat in May 2024, after he went to the house looking for his estranged wife Rowena.
An inquest into their deaths opened today and was played two Triple Zero calls made by Gretl, as Bombara — armed with two Glock pistols — threatened the mother and daughter in their home.
"There is a guy in my house with a gun," Gretl is heard to say in the first call, which was not answered by staff at the Police Assistance Centre for one minute and 20 seconds.
The call was disconnected, but contrary to official policy, police did not call back or dispatch officers to the scene, the Counsel Assisting the Coroner Rachael Young SC said in her opening address to the court.
Meanwhile, Jennifer had called her best friend Rowena — Bombara's estranged wife — who heard Jennifer tell Bombara "she's not here, I told you she's not here", then "Mark, put down the gun".
Rowena, who was with her daughter Ariel at the time as they moved their belongings into their new apartment, also heard the call.
Gunshots were subsequently heard, and a woman was heard to say "please no, please Mark no, please leave my mum, no".
'Hands tied'
A second Triple Zero call from Gretl was replayed to the court, in which she whispers to the operator, "there is a guy with a gun in our house", before screams are heard along with a further gunshot.
The call is then disconnected.
Gretl had also messaged her sister Liesl, who was driving nearby with her boyfriend, asking her to call the police and telling her "my hands are tied" and "he has a gun to Jenny's".
In a fourth Triple Zero call, this one from Liesl, she tells the operator a man has a gun to her mother's head.
By this time multiple police vehicles had been dispatched to the home.
The first officers arrived at the home 11 minutes after the initial phone call by Gretl, and specialist police forced entry into the home at 4:46pm, 18 minutes after that call.
The officers discovered the bodies of Bombara and Jennifer Petelczyc.
Gretl was still showing signs of life and was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, but died a short time later.
Gunman in hospital days before
Bombara had two strokes that resulted in an acquired brain injury in the months before the double-murder suicide.
The inquest heard his daughter Candice describe his behaviour changes as "huge" and, that she had urged doctors not to discharge him from hospital in early May, about two weeks before the murders.
In a letter to the court, she and her siblings Isaac and Eden wrote the brain injury "led to behavioural changes" and their father "exhibited severe signs of depression and anxiety".
The family said they were "beyond disappointed" in the care he received at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, which they said had failed to provide a comprehensive mental health assessment, despite them requesting one before he was discharged.
A doctor performed an initial mental health assessment on May 7, in which Bombara denied he was having suicidal thoughts.
'Recipe for disaster'
Candice told hospital staff she believed he was lying and asked for further assessments.
In the letter to the coroner, she said the hospital failed to inform the family Mark Bombara had an acquired brain injury.
"A brain injury paired with significant mental health deterioration without proper treatment is clearly a recipe for disaster," the letter reads.
"Our hope is that this investigation identifies the shortcomings of the public health service and highlights the need for better resourcing and improved risk assessment systems."
