The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 3

MONDAY 30 JUNE 1997 THE AGE A 3 Family WlMg shocks Tasmania A fun night ends in tragedy for young apprentice WW 3 4 2 a flr Ryan Johnson-Hoe, 20, teas retnriuiiji home from a parly when he died. Pictuio: Channel 7. By ANDREW DARBY, Hobart A Tasmanian father yoslurtlay killed his four daughters wilh a knife and then committed suicide, in a tragedy that has shocked the state. Mr Peter Shoobridge killed the, girls, aged between nine and It), before driving to a local mailbox in Cambridge to post letters to his relatives. He then returned home and telephoned emergency services.

After chopping off his right hand wilh an axe, he shot himself with a .22 rifle, police said. Mr Shoobridge, 52, had been separated from his wife, a solicitor. She learnt of the deaths at hep Hobart home, where their daughters were believed to have lived during the week. Coming just 14 months after the Port Arthur shootings, the crime lias hit the Tasmanian community hard, according to Inspector John Warren, who is leading the police investigation. "It is a tragic set of circumstances, particularly following the events of last year," Inspects Warren said.

Police were alerted to the tragedy at 6.51am yesterday by Mr Shoobridge, who said the police and ambulance should come to the house, Southern-field, a sprawling sandstone home set amid grapevines and gum trees about 15 kilometres north of I lobart. Mr Shoobridge said that a murder-suicide had occurred ai tl ic- house. Police immediately inatle checks that confirmed the call had been made from Sotithernlli'ld. Hie girls aged nine, 12, 14 and Hi, were found dead in three lied rooms in a wing of the house. They had knife wounds to the throat, police said.

Three were thought to have been as'teep at the time of their deaths, but the oldest is believed to have tried to defend herself. Their names have not been released. Yesterday, as forensic police examined the scene, children's bicycles stood on a verandah, and a tyre swing hung from a tree in the stone walled garden around the house. It is set on a hillside above the Richmond valley, an area sprinkled with large homes and hobby farms, many of which have small vineyards. (MUside the house, MrShoo-bridge's body lay close to a furniture restoration workshop.

He had been shot through the By LEAH McDONALD It had been a fun night for Ryan Johnson-Boe, 20. The popular young apprentice from Fcrntree Gully had spent the night at a 21st birthday party and, at 4 am yesterday, was heading home, a passenger in a friend's car. Moments later he was dead. As his friend drove along Iiurwood Highway in Ferntrcc Gully, a rock about the size of a bowling ball was hurled at the car. The rock smashed through the windscreen on the passenger side, slamming into Mr Johnson-Boe's chest.

Frantic attempts were made to resuscitate him but he died before he reached hospital. Early investigations indicate that Mr lohnson-ltoc and his friends in the car dropped off a young man at the Stylus Nightclub on Iiurwood Highway fin their way home from the birthday party. They had been planning to go 'tome and watch videos. As the car drove away from the club, making a U-turn at the intersection with Station Street, the rock was thrown. The car was travelling about 80 kmh at the time.

However, police have been told that just a few minutes before, a bottle or stubby of beer was thrown from the car at a group of people standing outside the nightclub. It is believed that an argument flared between the group and the occupants of the car. Police said that two men had picked up rocks and stood In (he left lane of the Iiurwood Highway near the Stylus Nightclub. They waited for the car Mr lohnson-Roe was travelling in to pass by. Only one of the two rocks was thrown, crashing thrnugh the windscreen low on the passenger side.

Mr Johnson-Hoe, who had two brothers and a sister, lived with his mother, Pamela. His sister, Lisa, said last night that the family was stunned by the death. "We don't know anything. We only know that Ryan's not coming home," she said. "He was good at just about anything he did.

He was a great jokcslcr; he was very funny I don't really know what to feel. I can't stop crying." Ms lohnson-Boc said her brother was outgoing but rarely went to nightclubs. House of horror: Mr Peter Shoobridge called police to the family home, 15 kilometres north of Iloharl, before he killed himself. Picture: ROGER LOVELL w'J? II Cambridge HOBAR)fcpt A J. -S.

NPnrt Arthur II 'TASMANIA Vmi' 'Vr The hole in lite windscreen caused by the rock. Last night police charged a man with manslaughter over Mr lohnson-lioe's death. Senior Detective Rick Nugent told an out-of-sessions hearing at the Melbourne Custody Centre that the man threw the rock after a stubby or bottle of beer had been thrown from (he car at him and his friends. The man took a rock from a nearby wall and threw it at the car, Senior Detective Nugent said. i'lie man was remanded in custody to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court this morning.

he had the facilities to do that sort of thing." Inspector Warren said the letters were believed to have been written before the children were killed. They were discovered yesterday by mail sorters after collection from a nearby post box. He could not say why they were noticed by the sorters, but it is believed they were bloodstained. "There were a number addressed by (he deceased male to other members of his family. We haven't examined them yet.

It may be two or three days before we get to the bottom of what happened." Inspector Warren said. head. Nearby, there was a child's sandpit decorated with tree branches stuck into the sand beside a toy house. Mr Shoobridge was known in Tasmania as a bush poet who published books of verse and had appeared on local television. A neighbor, Mr Kevin Nykiel, said Mr Shoobridge had recently worked as a manager on nearby vineyards owned by the district's mayor, and operated a furniture shop.

He also restored antiques. "He was a hard-working bloke who didn't smoke or drink, and he lived by himself," Mr Nykiel said. This is just unreal. He was always willing to help you out if he knew something he could teach you. We took a sheep up there to dress it once, because Mr Shnohridne, in a picture on the cover of one of his hooks.

He published hooks of verse and had appeared on local television. Mercedes drives away from murder scene How can a capital guaranteed investment achieve 20 pa growth in today's low interest environment? believed to he around at the lime, only 10 people have given information to police. The Mercedes is described as a dirty, while four-door, five to eight years old. The driver was described as Caucasian, in his 20s or 30s, 1H0 centimetres tall, "fit wilh shoulder-length blond or sandy brown hair. The other man was Caucasian.

175 centimetres, wilh light brown hair possibly tied back in a pony-tail. The woman was to years old with brown hair and a red and white top. Police said Mr Hitchens had a criminal record. No drugs or eapons were found on his body. Mr Hitchens and the men, resulting in several shots being fired, said Detective Senior Sergeant Hon Iddles of the homicide squad.

Mr Hitchens died in hospital soon alter. Senior Sergeant Iddles said that after (he shooting the Iwo men got I) a in li i car and drove HI metres before stopping so that the woman said to be distressed could get in. They then drove south down King Street and stopped at a red light before turning west into liourke Street. Senior Sergeant Iddles said the killers were unusually casual in the way they left the murder scene. Although 40 to 50 people were By STEPHEN CAUCHI Police are looking for a woman, two men and a white Mercedes after a 29-year-old man was shot dead in broad daylight on Melbourne's King Street nightclub strip on Saturday afternoon.

Last night detectives were checking footage from video cameras installed in King Street to see if they captured the incident. The trio got out of the Mercedes sedan and began talking to Kevin Henry Hitchens, of Pascoe Vale, as he stood in King Street near the intersection with Little Bourke Street about S.lapm, police said. An argument erupted between In this J.iy p.i" growth MR- may seem an overly ambitious aim tor a capital oiar.mteej investment, hu! not when you examine the fact'-. The amount of the loan will be equal to of the proceeds of the issue. This means that for every Ajl.

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Justice Michael Kirhy, has praised the Tasmaniai) Parliaments vole to decriminalise homosexuality and urged Australians to tell the world, saying il was a weak society that left social reform to the courts. In a passionate speech to the Tasmanian (lay and Lesbian Rights Croup's celebratory dinner in I lobart on Sat-urday, lustice Kirhy, the president of the International Commission of Jurists, said the Tasmanian reform was historic. lie called on the secretary-general of the United Nations. Mr Koll Annan, to appoint a rapporteur on human rights and sexual orientation and for Australians to publicise the Tasmanian move to encourage reform overseas. "Wilh this step, our continental country from Hobart 10 Darwin, from Bris bane lo Perth has been freed from laws which criminalised people for being how (iod, or nature, made them," lustice Kirhy said.

Hut his remarks are likely lo raise the ire of some in the federal (lovernment. Two weeks ago, lustice Kirhy endorsed the view expressed by (lovernment ministers that judges should not comment on controversial political issues but should leave such matters to politicians. His comments at the time followed an attack on the Ciovernment by the Pamily Court's chief judge, luslice Alastair Nicholson, for failing to apologise over the stolen Aboriginal children. Impressing what he said were personal views on Saturday, luslice Kirby praised the fact that Tasmania's anti-gay laws had? been overturned by the votes of elected representatives, endorsing the remarks of a United States Supreme Court judge that this was better than relying on tlic courts. "It is usually a sign of a weak society that it leaves the hard issues to the courts," he said.

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Stuck on saving the endangered koala C3 OPTICAL CITY 111 Swanston Street, City. 600 Station Street, llox Hill. Ill Nicholson Street, Footscray 1" Carlisle Stn.it. East St Kilila. l'h: (3 J.Vio I'll: WW o.w; 96H7 y.W l'h: syj I ADDRESS 'CITY I itl.tMlllt'i'il I'V -STATU.

Quo minnktt I.D&I MAN Ufestpac INYKhHTMKNra I JMI1ir.li said the tattoos would go on sale nationally from 1 July at newsagents, pharmacies, Toys Us and several souvenir shops and service stations. "We hope to remind people how precious koalas arc, lo raise money for their conservation in the wild, and to Increase awareness about the threats they face," Ms Sharp said. She said the koala population was estimated at 40,000 to 80,000. "Compare this to the 1920s when three million were shot for their fur." Ms Sharp said Arnlc and Lulu were based on real-life koalas in the wild which dally faced threats of urbanisation, dog attacks, road deaths and loss of habitat. AAP posTaipi; 1 1 Ionic) Conservationists hope Australians will roll up their sleeves and slap on a koala tattoo next month to raise funds to protect the animals.

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