It’s February 12 2014. 11-year-old Luke Batty was at the Tyabb Cricket Ground in Melbourne when his father, Greg Anderson, showed up unannounced. Isolating his son in the cricket nets, Anderson would bash Luke with a cricket bat and then proceed to stab him to death.
The only witness? A young boy who ran to tell his father. The dad rang the Police. Ambulances arrived on the scene, but Anderson prevented them from getting to Luke.
Upon the arrival of law enforcement, Police attempted to subdue Greg Anderson with capsicum spray, which proved ineffective. They then shot him when he lunged at them with a knife. The perpetrator then died in hospital. He had four arrest warrants in his name.
The Luke Batty Inquest
In September 2015, the inquest into Luke Batty’s death concluded that no one could have predicted Greg Anderson’s actions in February 2014, and the blame was solely on Anderson.
Coroner Ian Gray commended Luke’s mother, Rosie, for her work with domestic violence charities.
It was also suggested during the Luke Batty Inquest that Anderson might’ve had a mental illness that hadn’t been diagnosed. Furthermore, it might’ve been a factor in why he couldn’t hold a job or maintain housing. It was also noted that he was violent towards people around him and not just Rosie and Luke.
Greg Anderson’s Past And Rosie’s Lifelong Trauma
The inquest also examined Anderson’s past. He showed disturbing amounts of violence towards those around him, including Luke’s mother, Rosie, with whom he had been in an on-off relationship since 1992. Anderson attempted to rape a friend of Rosie’s.
Rosie had cut off Anderson after their relationship ended in 1994. However, eight years later, they reunited, leading to Ms Batty’s pregnancy with Luke. In her memoir, A Mother’s Story, she revealed she’d never planned to have a baby and said that her son’s conception was an accident. She reasoned that she had lifelong trauma to loss after her mother died when she was six, and she and her three brothers were raised by their maternal grandmother and a slew of nannies.
Rosie also said she and two of her brothers had never been married because of this trauma. She has also never been attached to anyone for fear of losing them.
According to the ABC, In the year before Luke Batty’s death, the boy was constantly threatened by his father with a knife.
Rosie also claims that Greg’s violent streak occurred when they met but got worse during her pregnancy. After Luke was born, Anderson assaulted her, which led to the relationship ending again. However, he was allowed to remain in contact for the sake of their son.
Ms Batty also noted that Greg was a loving parent towards Luke, and she had to fight to allow him to spend time with their son. However, the court orders changed, allowing Anderson to see Luke on weekends while playing sports.
It was noted that from June 2004 to February 2014, Greg had repeatedly threatened to kill Rosie, which led to multiple intervention orders, arrests and charges against him.
The Actions Rosie Didn’t Know About
In 2012, Greg Anderson was caught at a Melbourne library accessing child pornography. The month before the murder of Luke Batty in January 2014, Anderson had threatened to kill his flatmate, which led to an intervention order being put in place. He was arrested but released without charge.
Rosie had no idea about either of these offences due to privacy laws.
Rosie’s Belief
According to her book, A Mother’s Story, Rosie concluded that the killing of her son was Greg’s final act of power over her. However, she wouldn’t be silenced. The morning after Luke’s murder, she stood in front of the media and spoke about family violence.
Rosie’s story would turn her into a national pioneer in the fight against domestic and family violence. In 2015, she was named Australian of the Year for her work.
Why Is Spartan Initiative Talking About The Death Of Luke Batty?
The Spartan Initiative was set up to focus on male domestic violence cases. Luke Batty was a victim of family violence, killed by his father.
Family violence and domestic violence fall into the same category. The story of Luke Batty’s death highlights another aspect that is not often spoken about: filicide—moreover, the killing of one’s children. We briefly touched on this in the Hannah Clarke case with Rowan Baxter killing their three children.
There is also the case of Dean Shillingsworth, who his mother killed, and then his little body was found inside a suitcase floating in a Macarthur region pond.
Moreover, there are a few similarities to the Batty and Clarke-Baxter cases. Both had been abused from the beginning of the relationship. Secondly, the children were threatened. Thirdly, the mothers, Rosie and Hannah, respectively, never thought their former partners would harm their children. Finally, the perpetrators used knives to keep people away from helping the victims at the crime scene.
No child, regardless of their age, should fear their parents or any adult. Luke Batty had no reason to fear Greg Anderson. Rosie’s worst fear happened, and how she fights for those who cannot fight for themselves. In conclusion, that is why she was named Australian of the Year.
Rosie fought her way out of grief, and while she might not have Luke, she did start the Luke Batty Foundation alongside the Never Alone campaign. She later closed the foundation in 2018.
