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John Walsh pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife JW and his two grandchildren KH aged seven and JH aged five, and he also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to his daughter with intent to murdering her.
John Walsh and his wife lived in Cowra and often cared for their grandchildren while their daughter SW who was a police officer in Parkes worked. This arrangement had worked well until 29 June 2008 when Walsh killed his wife and grandchildren, and had then intended to kill his daughter and then drive to Newcastle to kill his ex-son-in-law. His daughter came home from work to find her mother and children dead, and was attacked by her father with an axe. She escaped with head wounds. Walsh, who appeared to have had no real motivation for the murders, was sentenced to two life sentences.
R v Walsh [2009] NSWSC 764, 7 August 2009.
1. Newspaper articles on Proquest ANZ Newsstand, available remotely to registered clients of the State Library of NSW. Type in John Walsh and Cowra. Set dates to June 2008 to August 2009.
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Names of victims have been suppressed.
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