Indira Naidoo had walked past the Moreton Bay figs in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden and Domain many times without giving them much thought.
That changed after her youngest sister Manika took her own life during Melbourne’s darkest year of rolling COVID lockdowns in 2020.
Two weeks after the shocking news, Ms Naidoo was sitting on the lawn in the Domain with her head in her hands when she noticed a “sense of shimmery-ness around me and golden warmth.”
“I was thinking what’s happening and I opened my eyes, and all this light was coming through the branches of this tree above me, and I realized all these branches belonged to one tree,” Ms Naidoo told ABC TV’s Compass.
“There was such a sense of solace — as if it was giving me a hug and a real warmth and calm about it.”
As she looked closer at the giant tree, she was struck by its magic.
“I suddenly thought there’s something special here,” Ms Naidoo said.
“This is a special tree. This is a special place.”
Ms Naidoo, who presents ABC Radio’s Nightlife program, has since written a book about finding healing in nature after her sister’s death.
The Moreton Bay fig where she returned over and over seeking solace is featured in her book, The Space Between the Stars.
Since the book’s publication in April, hundreds of people have flocked to the same remarkable tree — many seeking its comfort as they navigate their own grief.
‘Such a beautiful tree’
Tracey Fitzpatrick has visited the tree, which is thought to date back to at least 1871, several times since reading Ms Naidoo’s book.
“It’s so inspirational. It’s such a beautiful tree,” she says.
Ms Fitzpatrick has lost family members in the past 12 months.
The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has run several tours for people wanting to visit the tree.(Supplied)
“[The book] inspired me to look beyond my own inward grief and really connect with nature and see how it helps you heal,” she said.
“When I’m looking at the tree, I think it’s an energy that emits from it that is life going on and continuing to be okay.”
The Royal Botanic Gardens has even organized several tours of the tree due to the demand from people wanting to visit and learn more about it.
Fiona Jostsons brought her cousin Jennifer Vince from Melbourne to visit the tree.
“There is a bit of an emotional response to this tree because I lost sisters in my youth … so that resonates with me,” Ms Vince said.
Ms Jostsons said she was drawn to the tree’s “sense of calmness — that you can get through anything.”
Connection with trees common
Moreton Bay figs are the signature tree of the botanic garden and the Domain, with the oldest remaining one planted in 1845.
The one that Ms Naidoo formed a special connection with has a boardwalk around it to protect its roots as it towers over the road that runs through the Domain.
“Like a lot of really old urban trees, it’s lived a life and had to deal with all sorts of changes over time,” says Royal Botanic Garden Sydney senior horticulturist and volunteer manager Paul Nicholson.
Ms Naidoo says she visited the tree every day after the death of her sister during the first year of the pandemic.(ABC: compass)
There are signs it has suffered some dieback, and a fire has been lit in one of its hollows.
“It’s certainly a symbol of resilience.”
Sydney’s Moreton Bay figs have long provided shade on a hot day and a retreat from the busy city.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Indira Naidoo: losing a sister and finding healing
But Mr Nicholson says it’s not uncommon for people to form a special attachment to particular trees.
“There’s a tree that they’ll always visit in the garden. In some cases, they might know the person who planted it,” he said.
“Trees are things that outlive us, and they provide stability and amenity in the landscape.”
Once Ms Naidoo noticed what is now known as “her tree”, visiting it became part of her daily routine.
“Bit by bit, things started to show themselves, reveal themselves to me that had always been there, but I had just been too busy or too silly to actually take it in,” she said.
“I didn’t want to leave it.
“That was the other thing I found is that nothing compared to the joy and the wonder and the awe of what I was experiencing when I was near the tree and in the gardens.”
Watch the Compass episode ‘Indira’s Tree’ on Sunday, August 14 at 6:30pm or on ABC iview.
Urgent action needs to be taken to eliminate the “unacceptable” backlog of veterans’ compensation claims, with almost 42,000 awaiting processing at the end of May, a royal commission has warned, saying the situation may lead to suicides.
Key points:
Thirteen recommendations have been made in the interim report, with five of them focusing on the DVA’s claims process and staffing levels
The commissioners identified 50 previous reports and more than 750 recommendations on these issues in the past 22 years
More current and former ADF members have died by suicide than in combat in the Afghan and Iraq wars, the government says
The Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide handed down its interim report this morning, calling for an end to the backlog and for a simplification of the claims system to make it easier for veterans.
The commission made 13 recommendations, with five focused on the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ claims processes and staffing levels.
Another eight are intended to make it easier for witnesses to appear before the commission and allow it to more easily access documents.
The commissioners also said they were “dismayed” at the “limited” ways the federal government had reacted to previous reports relevant to the topics of suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving defense force members.
“We have identified over 50 previous reports, and more than 750 recommendations [since the year 2000],” the report said.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
‘There’s nothing else left’: Jacqui Lambie makes emotional plea for veterans to speak to royal commission
‘Lives depend on’ clearing claims backlog
Commission chair Nick Kaldas said the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ (DVA) claims backlog was “unacceptable” and could lead to suicide and suicidality in some cases.
“Behind each claim is a veteran who needs support, and it is seriously important that this assistance is provided as quickly as possible — lives and livelihoods depend on it,” he said.
The commission has recommended the department be given until March 2024 to eliminate the claims backlog, and called on the government to streamline processes and ensure DVA had the necessary resources to do so.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Veteran Gavin Tunstall on lack of training to deal with traumatic scenes
The report found Australia’s veteran compensation and rehabilitation system was “so complicated that it adversely affects the mental health of some veterans” and it recommended the federal government introduce legislative reforms by the end of the year.
“Previous reports and inquiries … have called for legislative simplification and harmonization,” the report said.
“We recognize that making change will not be easy, but the difficulties of reform provide no justification to delay any further.”
Witness calls department ‘cruel and inhumane’
Widow Madonna Paul told the commission she struggled to access support after the death of her husband by suicide.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
The commission has heard wide-ranging accounts of horrific abuse and trauma since public hearings began in November last year.
At the Tasmanian hearings, which wrapped up on Wednesday, the commission heard from Senator Jacqui Lambie, who said a back injury that resulted in her being medically discharged began a six-year battle with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for compensation, as well as debilitating pain and depression.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Jacqui Lambie says a department spied on her from a bush behind her house for weeks.
She said the department put her under surveillance after becoming suspicious she was faking her injuries, and representatives from the rehabilitation service spied on her from a bush near her back fence.
The widow of an ex-serviceman also spoke out about her struggles with the “cruel and inhumane” Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
She said she struggled to access support following her husband’s suicide.
And a former soldier spoke of his trauma after seeing the bodies of two boys killed in combat in Afghanistan.
Australia has lost more serving members to suicide than recent combat: Minister
loading
Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said the federal government was committed to a better future for Australia’s current and ex-service personnel and would look into implementing the report’s recommendations.
“Unfortunately, the rate of veterans’ suicide in Australia is a national tragedy,” he said.
“It’s devastating that Australia has lost more serving and former serving personnel to suicide than it has lost through operations over the last 20 years in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Governor-General David Hurley receives the interim report from commissioner Nick Kaldas this morning.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
Mr Keogh said it was important the recommendations were “addressed as a priority” and the government had already started hiring 500 additional staff to help the Department of Veterans’ Affairs clear its claims backlog.
He also said it had been made clear to the defense force and government departments that “the royal commission must be assisted in any way possible to ensure that it can make the most effective recommendations on how to address the scourge of suicide that has plagued our defense personnel, veterans and families.
Mr Keogh said he was “deeply sorry” if there had been failings in the way the defense force and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs had operated.
‘We’ve had silence for long enough’
Julie-Ann Finney called for the royal commission after the death of her son.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Julie-Ann Finney, the mother of a veteran who took his own life, said it was “uplifting” to know that people were finally talking about the high rates of suicidality among current and former defense force personnel.
Ms Finney became a high-profile campaigner for the commission to be established after her son, Petty Officer David Finney, took his own life in 2019.
She has attended hearings all over the country, carrying a photo of David with her each day.
Ms Finney said the hearings were confronting, but incredibly important.
“It’s frustration, anger and trauma associated with all this listening, but the alternative is silence, and we’ve had silence for long enough,” she said.
“Unfortunately, I was quite naive before my own son took his life but I don’t find myself naive anymore. I need to keep learning, keep listening to people.
Ms Finney called on the federal government to immediately act on the interim report’s recommendations, but she said she was more confident than ever that change would occur.
“I don’t want to speak to another mother who has recently lost her child, or a father or a partner,” she said.
“We need to look at why this is happening and find solutions, and I feel at the moment that that is coming out.
“We will just keep fighting. I’ve said it from the beginning that I didn’t bury my son to walk away — and there are hundreds like me.”
Ms Finney said she wanted to see the creation of an independent body where service personnel could report concerns about their mental health and unacceptable behaviour, and she also wanted the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to immediately clear its claims backlog.
Surge in compensation cases sees backlog grow six times in size
The commissioners said many people who had participated in the royal commission so far had spoken about their “frustration and disappointment” with the processing of compensation claims and “an unhelpful and negative attitude” from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs staff.
“Negative engagement with DVA staff regarding claims and entitlements was pervasive,” the report said.
“Long waiting times to action and pursue claims produced considerable frustration for ex-serving members.
“Many said that they dealt with simultaneous injuries, mental ill health and complex socioeconomic pressures.”
The report also found veterans were not given accurate information about claims processing and wait times, which it said could cause “considerable distress.”
The report found the backlog of undetermined claims — both allocated claims that had yet to be processed and those that had not yet been allocated — had multiplied by almost six times in the past five years.
It found the backlog was partly caused by “a significant surge” in the number of DVA claims received since 2016.
The department had expected the number of veterans receiving assistance to drop to just over 150,000 by June this year, but it had instead grown to 240,000.
Further hearings to come, full report in 2024
The report said the commission intended to make recommendations that resulted in “effective, long-lasting and compassionate change.”
“The prevalence of suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving Australian Defense Force members is something that should concern us all,” the report said.
“Each death by suicide, each life lost, has profound effects on family, friends, colleagues and the wider community.”
The commission has held six hearings around the country since it was established in July 2021.
It will hold further hearings in Darwin and Wagga Wagga this year, with a full report to be handed down in June 2024.
Mr Kaldas said the interim report did not touch on a number of issues, but he promised they would be examined in the final report.
The interim report is available for download on the Federal Parliament website.
A 2015 military deployment to Egypt changed former soldier William McCann’s life.
Key points:
Mr McCann was initially diagnosed with depression upon his return but was eventually diagnosed with PTSD
Initially feeling like he had been “left in the lurch” by the Army, he quickly turned his focus to getting as much support as possible
Mr McCann said he was inspired to give evidence at the royal commission to bring awareness to the struggles that people who experienced less support than he did
Frozen by the constant sound of alarms and gunfire while on deployment there, he feared he would die.
On his return to Australia, that fear and distress spilled out when he met his newborn son for the first time.
“I sort of regret it a little bit today that my first words to him, I don’t know why I said this was, ‘I didn’t think I would get to see you’,” he told the Royal Commission into Defense and Veterans’ Suicide.
“[They] were my first words to my son. It was probably an indicator then [of post-traumatic stress disorder] too, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself.”
Mr McCann said he became so overwhelmed by the noise of “rounds landing, rounds firing and alarms constantly resounding” in Egypt that it triggered his fight or flight response, resulting in him freezing and laying on the ground for an undetermined amount of time.
That incident, and a combination of shame and embarrassment around his reaction, led to a severe deterioration in his mental health.
“I started to realize I was really lacking a lot of confidence… I felt like I really didn’t belong,” he said.
“I felt like I was failing at every step along the way, and I got to feel that my motivation was gone; I just didn’t have that spark I had once before.”
He also started having daily thoughts about taking his own life.
Mr McCann was initially diagnosed with depression upon his return but was diagnosed with PTSD two years later in 2018.
He was eventually medically discharged in early 2019, exactly 13 years after he joined the Australian Defense Force.
Initially feeling like he had been “left in the lurch” by the Army when he was discharged shortly after receiving the diagnosis, Mr McCann quickly turned his focus to getting as much support as possible before he left.
“I didn’t want to be a financial burden on my family,” he said.
He completed multiple PTSD short courses and began the arduous process of finding a new psychologist — something he said was much more difficult outside of the ADF.
The commission will finish its Hobart hearings on Wednesday.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
One of the ‘lucky’ ones
Mr McCann said he was inspired to give evidence at the royal commission to bring awareness to the struggles that people who experienced less support than he did had faced during and after their careers.
“I’ve been fairly treated by [the Department of Veterans’ Affairs]I’ve gone through the processes, I’ve had a great support network, a great medical network with me and a very supportive family,” he said.
“However, despite that, throughout my time dealing with a mental condition and post-deployment, I’ve suffered with almost persistent suicidal ideation, culminating in points where I actively planned my own suicide.
“I feel as though I’ve been lucky, and yet I found myself in a place where I felt the right thing to do was to kill myself.
“So, I felt that if I can be in that spot, those who don’t have that fortune that I had must be in a hell of a lot worse place.”
He called on the ADF to recognize that some of his personnel would be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and to develop strategies to support service personnel and veterans.
Mr McCann also called for a change to the culture where people on medical leave are labeled “lingers”, saying it delayed him getting treatment.
“It prevented me from coming forward and speaking out because I was just fearful that I didn’t want to appear weak,” he said.
The commission will finish its Hobart hearings on Wednesday, and hand an interim report to the Governor-General on Thursday.
A woman whose husband took his own life after a decade of serving in the Air Force has described the Department of Veterans’ Affairs as “cruel” and “inhumane”.
Key points:
Madonna Paul’s husband Michael was eventually diagnosed with depression and received a white card for PTSD after he was discharged
Following Michael’s death, Ms Paul struggled to access support from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, until she contacted the ABC’s 7.30 program
She says the experience of dealing with the DVA deprived her of having a “half-decent life”
Madonna Paul’s husband Michael died in 2004 after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health issues.
Ms Paul told the Hobart sitting of the Royal Commission into Defense and Veteran Suicide that early in their marriage, Mr Paul was a “really easy-going guy” who “just loved life”.
She said his behavior changed after raising concerns with his superiors at the Swartz Barracks in Queensland about the safety of Nomad Aircraft, which had been nicknamed “Widowmaker”.
“Eventually he was called in and was told to shut up … do your job,” she said.
In 1991, one of the Nomad Aircraft crashed, killing all four crew members — an incident his wife said would change his life forever.
Ms Paul told the commission she was not aware of any debriefing or any critical incident discussions being offered in the wake of the crash.
“He would come home from work and sit in the dark,” she said.
“His moods became very erratic, there was some aggression.”
Eventually, the couple was offered a social worker at the Air Force Base in Townsville.
“And I never got to meet her, but Michael did. And he told me that she had said that we just have marriage problems,” Ms Paul said.
“I was just shocked because I knew that before. And I never did. I’d never met her. So she’d made a call without talking to me.
“I commenced marriage counselling, thinking that was the issue, that obviously somebody’s told him that’s the issue, but it wasn’t.”
Light aircraft trip in storm triggered ‘complete breakdown’
The commission heard that after being discharged from the Australian Army in 1994, Mr Paul was “relaxed for a bit” before having a “complete breakdown”.
“He was on his first light aircraft trip … when they hit a storm,” Ms Paul said.
“He called me when they landed and told me what had happened, and he was crying. And he said, ‘I can’t do this. I can’t get on these aircraft and keep doing this’.'”
The commission heard after a period of living rough, Mr Paul was eventually diagnosed with depression and received a white card for PTSD.
Struggling with their son’s attempt on his own life, Mr Paul was then prescribed medication by a psychiatrist.
“And when Michael was on [that] change of medication, that’s when the moods would become very erratic,” Ms Paul said.
“So I was always adamant because I did have a power of attorney, with his physicians that he’d be hospitalized for that changed medication.
“Unfortunately, the week before he died, he was on changed medication. And the physician didn’t contact me to hospitalize him.”
Dealing with department deprived widow of ‘half-decent life’
Following Mr Paul’s death, Ms Paul struggled to access support from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA), until she contacted the ABC’s 7:30 program.
“And within 24 hours [of the story airing]I had DVA calling me, people assigned to my case, and they awarded me a war widow’s pension,” she said.
She was given $130,000 in compensation from the DVA but said she has had around $220,000 deducted as part of her war widow payment.
“To find out, you know, I said to them, I think you’ve made an error because I’ve just done simple maths and I’ve already paid this. Why is this still being deducted?” she said.
“and [a woman from the DVA]she sort of scoffed, and said, ‘it’s perpetual, you will be doing this for the rest of your life’.”
Ms Paul said Australia needed to examine how other countries were helping veterans.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Ms Paul said the experience of dealing with the DVA after her husband’s death nearly 20 years ago had deprived her of having a “half-decent life”.
“Because you’re living on next to nothing anyway, and trying to make everything ends meet, it’s stressful,” she said
“It just brings it all back up, and you have to go through it again, and tell the story again.
“I don’t understand the politics behind it, but it’s a very cruel and inhumane treatment.”
Ms Paul called for Australia to examine how other countries were helping veterans, including having services delivered by people with lived experience.
“I have suffered at the hands of DVA generational and systematic abuse, and it needs to stop,” she said.
“No-one knows what to say after a suicide. They do not know what to say. I mean, like, I can remember people saying time is the greatest healer.
“Honestly, time does not heal it. Having a great trauma specialist heals it.”
More support needed as personnel move out of service
National Mental Health Commissioner Alan Woodward told the hearings this morning that any government policy aimed at preventing suicide must be driven by those with lived experience.
“The quest for suicide prevention will be so much more effective if we listen and respond to the people we’re seeking to serve and support, than if we try to do it without those voices,” Mr Woodward said.
“This has been a problem in suicide prevention, where the input perhaps at times been dominated by those who do not have the lived experience perspective.”
Mr Woodward said a disproportionate number of Australian veterans were dying by suicide.
Julie-Ann Finney (L) came to support Ms Paul.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
He told the commission that statistics showed deaths by suicide were more common for those who had left service involuntarily.
“Which further raises for me the importance of not just looking at the transition process where a person is moving from defense to non-defence status, but when they’re doing that not necessarily of their own accord, for whatever reason might be associated with it,” he said.
Mr Woodward said more support was needed during that transition period.
“Big changes are stressful … but where a change is brought about from someone else’s decision, not your own, then that is going to be even more magnified stress,” he said.
“It may raise all sorts of profound issues for that person about their sense of purpose, who they are and identity, where they go from here.”
The commission will finish its Hobart hearings this week and hand an interim report to the Governor-General on Thursday.
The family of Canberra woman Brontë Haskins has asked the ACT coroner to make adverse findings about several people involved in her case before and after her suicide in 2020.
Key points:
Brontë Haskins, 23, took her own life in 2020 after suffering from substance abuse and mental illness
Her mother has called for the ACT coroner to find several people failed her before her death
The lawyer for Ms Haskins’s family says if she was triaged correctly she would have been assessed by a trained mental-health clinician
Ms Haskins, 23, died in hospital after several days on life support.
Her death came while she was on bail after a stint in jail for drug driving.
Ms Haskins had suffered both substance abuse and mental illness, something her mother said was not taken seriously enough by authorities.
In the lead-up to her death she had been staying at her mother’s home, while she was on bail.
A coronial inquest into Ms Haskins’s suicide heard her mother called police and mental health services when she became delusional, believing the unit where she was staying was a gas chamber.
Several issues have been raised in the case before the ACT Coroner’s Court, including the family’s claim that a mental-health nurse failed to give the case the priority it required and failed to follow up a call from Ms Haskins’s mother, Janine.
Lawyer Sam Tierney who represented Ms Haskins’s family referred to the staged triage system — where category A is the most serious, and category G requires more information — when criticizing the way the case was handled by mental-health nurse Karina Boyd.
The inquest heard Brontë Haskins’s case was not triaged correctly.(Supplied)
“Had Ms Boyd not incorrectly triaged Brontë as category G, Brontë would have more likely than not been assessed face to face by a trained mental-health clinician within 72 hours and certainly prior to her death,” Mr Tierney said.
Counsel assisting the coroner Andrew Muller also took aim at the way the case was triaged.
“Brontë should have been assessed as a category C or D, resulting in some urgent follow-up,” Mr Muller said.
“What is material is that, on any view of the available information, Brontë was incorrectly assessed for triage purposes.”
Mr Muller has recommended an overhaul of the triage system.
But in its submissions, the ACT defended Ms Boyd’s decision, saying she had not been able to speak to Ms Haskins and her only contact was with her mother.
“She had been told that the AFP had been called and she assumed that the police would contact her if they thought Brontë needed a risk assessment or mental-health service,” the territory submissions said.
Court hears CCTV footage of minutes before attempt to take life missing
Ms Haskins’s family have called for greater transparency in passing on confidential details after the death of a mental health service user to the Coroner’s Court.(Supplied)
Another key issue was the fact police returned a CCTV recorder to Brett French, an associate of Ms Haskins, at whose home she had tried to take her life.
The court heard about 45 minutes of footage which may have shed light on the events leading up to her death was deleted
Court documents showed Mr French had admitted showing some of the CCTV to another man.
Mr Tierney told the court the family wanted an adverse finding against Mr French for his “callous” treatment of Ms Haskins on the day of her death.
Mr Tierney also identified the behavior of police investigating the death as an issue.
“A proper investigation and analysis of the CCTV recorder may have disclosed further and important information to the coroner to assist in the process of considering Brontë’s death,” he said.
He has called for a recommendation that will send a message to the AFP about the handling of coronial exhibits.
The inquiry has also looked into the management of Ms Haskins’s case and whether further detention could have prevented her death.
Mr Muller said there was evidence of better communications about her could have helped.
“Had Brontë been stopped the outcome may, of course, have been different,” Mr Muller said.
“But there was no proper reason she could be stopped.”
Other recommendations being sought by Ms Haskins’s family include greater transparency in passing on to the Coroner’s Court confidential details after the death of a mental health service user, recording of calls to the mental health line, audits of the triage system, and better information to be passed to AFP officers called to incidents.
Coroner James Stewart said he would take some time to hand down his findings.
Investigators have released autopsy reports on the victims and the suspect in the triple homicide at Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground. Officials say 42-year-old Tyler Schmidt died from a gunshot wound and multiple sharp force injuries. His wife, 42-year-old Sarah Schmidt, died from multiple sharp force injuries. Their daughter, 6-year-old Lula Schmidt, died from a gunshot wound and strangulation. All three family members’ deaths have been ruled homicides. The family’s 9-year-old son Arlo Schmidt survived the attack. The family is from Cedar Falls. Many there have paid tribute to them in recent weeks. Investigators report that 23-year-old Anthony Sherwin, of LaVista, Nebraska, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death has been ruled a suicide. Investigators report that the woman who first called for assistance at the campgrounds was Sherwin’s mother.”He did run just to the first set of adults and it ends up being Sherwin’s mother who called 911,” Mitch Mortvedt with Iowa DCI said. Officials say all evidence collected points to Sherwin as the perpetrator. They believe he acted alone. Iowa DCI isn’t releasing some details out of respect for the family. “You try to wrap our rational minds around a very irrational behavior and I don’t mean to be that simple about it but sometimes you can’t understand or fathom what’s going on with someone,” Mortvedt said. Previous coverage:
ANKENY, Iowa —
Investigators have released autopsy reports on the victims and the suspect in the triple homicide at Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground.
Officials say 42-year-old Tyler Schmidt died from a gunshot wound and multiple sharp force injuries. His wife, 42-year-old Sarah Schmidt, died from multiple sharp force injuries.
Their daughter, 6-year-old Lula Schmidt, died from a gunshot wound and strangulation. All three family members’ deaths have been ruled homicides.
The family’s 9-year-old son Arlo Schmidt survived the attack. The family is from Cedar Falls. Many there have paid tribute to them in recent weeks.
Investigators report that 23-year-old Anthony Sherwin, of LaVista, Nebraska, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His death of him has been ruled a suicide.
Investigators report that the woman who first called for assistance at the campgrounds was Sherwin’s mother.
“He did run just to the first set of adults and it ends up being Sherwin’s mother who called 911,” Mitch Mortvedt with Iowa DCI said.
Officials say all evidence collected points to Sherwin as the perpetrator. They believe he acted alone.
Iowa DCI isn’t releasing some details out of respect for the family.
“You try to wrap our rational minds around a very irrational behavior and I don’t mean to be that simple about it but sometimes you can’t understand or fathom what’s going on with someone,” Mortvedt said.
Searching for a purpose in life, Gavin Tunstall joined the Australian Army in 2005 and quickly found one.
Key points:
Mr Tunstall said he struggled to cope with what he had seen in Afghanistan, and his mental health declined significantly
He was eventually discharged from the army on mental health grounds
He is now working to teach veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder how to scuba dive
He threw himself into army life and loved every moment.
“It gave me a group of men to be around. I started to feel like I had a family,” he told the Royal Commission into Defense and Veterans’ Suicide, which is holding hearings in Hobart.
But things started to fall apart when he was deployed to Afghanistan a few years later and saw the bodies of two young boys killed in combat.
“It’s not usual for children to be fighting, it’s not usual for children to be firing a machine gun,” he told the commission.
“It is not usual for me to be inspecting their dead bodies. I expected men.”
Mr Tunstall said he struggled to cope with what he had seen, and his mental health declined significantly.
“If you haven’t been in that situation you have no clue until you’ve gone through it,” he said.
“You can’t be trained for that. You don’t know how you’re going to react.”
He went on his first lot of mental health leave but said he soon started hiding his symptoms to get back to work and progress through the ranks.
A series of physical injuries — shoulder and ankle reconstructions and a torn anterior cruciate ligament — derailed his career, and led to him drinking alcohol on top of a cocktail of pain medication.
He was placed on limited duties, which he said his colleagues struggled to understand, and his mental health spiraled to a point where he was admitted to hospital in 2019.
The lack of support for service personnel and veterans’ families has been a common theme of the royal commission.(ADF)
Change of medication ‘the start of everything’
Mr Tunstall was placed on medication and his mental health started to improve, but he said a new doctor and a change of medication meant things started to unravel again.
“That was the start of everything… I have no doubt what he did lead to what happened next,” he said.
“[I had] bad dreams, night terrors, started locking myself away in my room, started isolating myself from all my friends, anger, no tolerance of any noise.”
He was arrested on domestic violence charges in early 2020 and told the commission that the officer who arrested him was a member of the Army Reserves.
“He said he was tired of arresting veterans, and he had tears in his eyes,” he said.
Mr Tunstall said he struggled to cope with what he saw in Afghanistan.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Mr Tunstall was immediately readmitted to hospital for three months and discharged from the army on mental health grounds later that year.
His criminal charges were later dropped on mental health grounds.
Having lost his family and feeling betrayed by the job he loved while he waited for his discharge to be processed, Mr Tunstall said he thought about taking his own life.
“I struggle every day with the pain of my physical injuries and the mental anguish of my service. My life will never be the same again,” he told the commission.
Mr Tunstall now works to help veterans like himself.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
With time and support in hospital, plus seeking psychological support, Mr Tunstall’s mental health gradually improved.
He said he was now working with a provider teaching veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder how to scuba dive, in a bid to ensure others do not go through what he did.
“I was a veteran in the dark, I’m now starting to get out of it,” he said.
“I want to offer that to other people like myself who are stuck. I don’t want any more [veterans] to take their own life.”
Mr Tunstall said his family was getting no support.(ABC News: Luke Bowden)
Families ‘given no support’
But while Mr Tunstall is receiving support, he told the royal commission his family had been effectively abandoned.
“My family pretty much lost their provider. My kids lost their dad. My wife lost her husband,” he said.
“They are sitting down there… with no support, in government housing, my three children are living like poor people and there is no assistance.
“I’m getting help, but they are getting nothing and it’s a common story.”
A lack of support for the families of service personnel and veterans has been a common theme of the royal commission during its six public hearing blocks.
The Hobart hearings will conclude next week, with the commission to hand down its interim report on August 11.
New South Wales Police believe the two Saudi sisters found rotting in their south-western Sydney apartment had died in a suspected suicide pact.
The bodies of Asra Abdallah Alsehli, 24, and her sister Amaal, 23, were found in separate bedrooms inside a Canterbury unit on June 7 after a concern for welfare report.
The grim discovery was made by officers from the Sheriff’s Department after the women failed to pay their rent and owed more than $5,000 to their landlord, NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal records showed.
Police had been baffled for several weeks about how the women died, who were found fully clothed, badly decomposed and no signs of forced entry into the unit.
Stream Sky News live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends October 31, 2022
But the mystery appears to have been solved with interim toxicology reports showing traces of substances, which were found next to their bodies, detected in their systems, The Daily Telegraph reports.
“There’s no indication of anyone else being in the unit … no forced entry. It really does appear to be a tragic suicide,” a senior police source told the publication.
Further testing is being conducted by specialist pathology labs before an exact cause of death for the sisters can be determined.
It’s believed the bodies were laying in the Canterbury Rd unit for at least six weeks before the remains were discovered.
It was also reported a bottle of bleach, non-perishable foot items and clothing were some of the items found in the bedrooms.
The sisters, who arrived to Australia from Saudi Arabia as teenagers in 2017, largely kept to themselves and were “afraid of something” one friend claimed.
NSW Police released the images of the two women in a press conference last week as they launched a community appeal for anyone who had any information.
But despite the media coverage on the case, officers still know little about the sisters.
The outstanding rent is expected to be paid to the landlord through a black BMW, believed to be owned by the sisters, which was seized when the bodies were found.
Their family in Saudi Arabia have made no plans to fly the bodies home and have not arranged a burial in Australia.
The NSW Coroner can organize a state-funded burial if there were no substantial funds in the deceased person’s bank accounts.
The Canterbury apartment was listed for rent for $520 this week with a disturbing claimer included at the bottom of the advertisement.
“Disclaimer: This property has found two deceased persons on 06/07/2022, crime scene has been established and it is still under police investigation,” the description wrote.
“According to the police, this is not a random crime and will not be a potential risk for the community.”
