Trigger warning: the following post deals with graphic domestic violence and suicide and may be distressing for some readers.
You can read more about the Coroner’s findings into this case here.
Last September, news broke that Lockhart man Geoff Hunt had murdered his wife Kim and their three children – Fletcher, 10, Mia, 8, and Phoebe, 6 – before taking his own life at their rural property near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales.
According to the timeline put together by detectives, Geoff Hunt murdered Kim first before turning the gun on his children, murdering them one by one, execution style, as they lay in their beds.
His own body was found in a muddy dam on the property and a suicide note (since verified by a handwriting expert as belonging to Geoff Hunt) was found on the dining room table.
Yet despite the horrific crimes he committed, when news of the mass murder first broke, Geoff Hunt was repeatedly eulogised as a “great guy”, “super super patient”, “you couldn’t get a better bloke”, “a pillar of society”, “the most gentle considerate bloke”.
As I wrote at the time:
If a man walked into a classroom, pulled out a gun and shot three children and a teacher, before turning the gun on himself, we’d call it a massacre, and we’d call him a vicious murderer.
Yet when a man walks into his own home and shoots his three children and his wife before turning the gun on himself, he’s remembered in the press as a loving family man who was under some strain.
This week, the inquest into the murders was held. Here is how Geoff and Kim Hunt have each been characterised in the press:
He has been described as “a lovely guy”, “hard working, quiet, easy going, warm and loving”.
She has been described as “angry, frustrated and unable to control her moods”.
He “loved his family and never raised his voice”.
Top Comments
I remember when this was first reported in the media. It sickened me. I could hardly believe I was reading it. If there is any doubt that sexism is alive and well, the reporting of this story and the reactions of many in the community puts it to rest. And on the same page as the article in the toilet paper Telegraph, an ad for Beyond Blue! I'm sorry, it's just mindbogglingly offensive.
There was reporting on the reaction from another family member who defended him too. I can only put that down to a way of coping which spares a person the horror of accepting the true brutality of the crime. It is somehow more palatable to see this as some horrible set of circumstances which collided on the day that family was murdered. Why they buried him right next to his victims I will NEVER understand.
Consider this. If the man was alive today, he'd be on trial for four counts of murder. I recommend reading the entire 27 page Coroner's report prior to posting.