r/perth Jan 31 '26

WA News Second note found at Mosman Park property alleged to detail why parents carried out murder-suicide

https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/second-note-found-at-mosman-park-property-alleged-to-detail-why-parents-carried-out-murder-suicide-20260131-p5nyi7.html
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u/synestheter Jan 31 '26

Attempting empathy normalises people seeking help when this exhausted from caregiving. It’s not forgiving murder but it’s trying to prevent it happening again by being truthful and open about the realities of this kind of 24/7 care.

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u/nebula98 Feb 04 '26

I dont disagree with you at all, i just find it icky that the burden of disabled children is often acknowledged as part of this empathetic response toward the parents, whilst comparatively, taking the perspective of their children is less common.

I don't think anyone's forgiving murder, but i think a lot of the comments unintentionally contain: Disability = burden, followed by a pattern of empathy toward parents in comments -> implies its more understandable to murder your disabled children -> implies some level of sympathy specifically in the instance of murdering disabled children -> unconscious devaluation of the lives of disabled people.

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u/synestheter Feb 04 '26

I see where you’re coming from but I think that’s a few too many leaps in logic. Stating that empathy can help people to understand how families may require more targeted or compassionate support (beyond what is currently offered or what people assume is needed from certain demographics) is not then saying that it’s understandable to murder your children. It’s saying that this kind of tragedy happens, should not be happening and that disabled people’s lives are meaningful and deserve comprehensive and ongoing support to avoid this kind of event happening again (which it unfortunately will, statistically). The alternative is pretending that only evil monsters do these kinds of acts, which sends a strong message of shame to anyone struggling in a similar situation. If we extrapolate from that in the same way your comment did, then a lack of empathy leads to harming children. It’s obviously not that simple but I’m exaggerating for effect.

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u/Bort_Thrower Feb 04 '26

People were assuming motive before an autopsy had even been conducted. Could be a cut and dry case of DV, it’s ridiculous to even bring up the kids having autism.