❤️HIS NAME IS LEON CLUNE!❤️
Hanging with his mates and exploring the river. Going to school and playing with his brother and his pets.
Leon Clune was a happy lad who deserved every opportunity to grow and to be safe.
The 16-year-old was murdered alongside his little brother Otis at his home in Mosman Park on January 30. Police believe their parents killed both boys and then ended their own lives. They also killed the boys’ three pets.
Leon is the 2nd Australian child killed in 2026 – 14-year-old Otis is the third child killed this year. Last year, we lost 26 children to violence.
In briefing media, police went to great pains to soften the language around this act of domestic violence.
Using words like ‘health struggles’ and ‘non-violent’ murder, the phrasing leans into the ‘mercy killing’ trope. That is, a person or people had no choice but to kill someone with disability and/or chronic illness (or other factor) because the killer/s could not cope or because they believed the victim/s could not live without them.
There’s no doubt raising children – with or without diverse needs – is a struggle. And I know that Australia’s support systems can be hard to access and often deeply inadequate.
Murdering someone because of this is not acceptable. It just is not. There are no shades of grey here.
Hopefully, a coronial inquest will examine all the aspects leading up to the murders of Leon and Otis – and with that examination will come recommendations for change. These recommendations – no matter how costly or painful – must be implemented by policy-holders and governments.
Their deaths can – at the very least – inspire change!
LEON CLUNE MATTERS!❤️
*Please see the separate entry for Otis.
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