An Australian man living in Bali was found dead alongside his two young children in an apparent murder-suicide, following a final phone call in which his wife heard their daughter crying, “Stop, Daddy.”
Damien John Shaw, 56, allegedly strangled his 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter before taking his own life by hanging in their Kuta bungalow on September 13, police said.
Shaw’s wife, who was about 600 miles away in Jakarta, contacted a neighbor and asked them to check on the family after hearing their frightened daughter screaming during a phone call, according to The West Australian.
Residents who went to the bungalow found Shaw hanging from a rope, with the children’s bodies inside the property, authorities said.
CCTV footage showed a disturbing sequence in which the son could be heard screaming inside the bungalow as the daughter ran outside. Police said Shaw then dragged the girl back inside, according to statements reported by Bali Eyewitness News.
“Kuta Police have spoken with the victim’s wife, but progress was limited as she remains in deep shock and grief,” Denpasar city police official I Gede Adi Saputra Jaya told reporters.
Shaw’s wife told police that their marriage had been troubled for years and that she had moved to her parents’ home two weeks before the deaths.
Neighbors in Perth, where the family had previously lived, described them as private and generally peaceful, The Australian reported.
People close to the family said Shaw had endured several personal losses, including the death of his father when he was 15, the later loss of a brother and, more recently, his mother’s death from an illness.
“He was very private but never caused any trouble, we always exchanged pleasantries,” one neighbor told The Australian.
Police said Shaw had attempted suicide about a month before the deaths. His wife intervened at the time, but the family did not seek psychiatric treatment, authorities said.
