Australian father kills two young children in Bali home before taking his own life
An Australian expatriate, Damien John Shaw, murdered his six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter in their Legian bungalow and then died by suicide, prompting grief in the Kuta community.
Damien John Shaw, a 56-year-old former oil-gas employee from Western Australia living in Bali, killed his six-year-old son Archie and four-year-old daughter Laura in their Legian bungalow and subsequently died by suicide. Staff at the Blue Dolphin Playskool in Kuta recalled the children as happy and kind, and the family’s regular visits to the school and a nearby bar. Police say Shaw suffered from severe, untreated anxiety and that his relationship with the children’s Indonesian mother had recently become volatile, with threats of divorce and suicide.
A construction worker discovered the bodies after breaking a locked door, and investigators confirmed Shaw’s death at the scene. Bali’s provincial government spokesman Putu Senapati said mental-health monitoring cannot cover everyone, while Monash University expert Kate Fitz-Gibbon warned that relationship breakdowns can heighten the risk of lethal family violence.
Why it matters
The case underscores the dangers of untreated mental illness and the need for better safeguards against family-based violence.
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