“I’m really battling”: Grieving father of murdered children reveals heartbreaking struggle
The father of four children who were killed in a murder-suicide near Margaret River has revealed he is struggling to get through the days.
Three months on from the tragedy that shocked Australia, Aaron Cockman said he has been in constant pain since his daughter and three sons were killed.
“To be honest, I’m really battling, really battling. I make it halfway through the day and I think I only have half more to go – and then the next day comes,” Mr Cockman told Sunrise on Thursday morning.
“I really miss the kids. I even miss Katrina.
“The sadness that I am going through, it should never have happened … as soon as the lawyers got involved, everything went downhill really really fast.”
On May 11, Mr Cockman’s estranged father-in-law Peter Miles, 61, shot dead his 58-year-old wife Cynda, 35-year-old daughter Katrina and her four children – daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, 8.
Mr Cockman is preparing to meet with Health Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday about changing Australia’s family legal system, warning of the potentially devastating consequences of court involvement in family separation.
“Things just began to spiral out of control,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“There was no turning back. I backed away because I could see the enormous strain she [Kat] and the family were under.
“We need to find a better, safer way of dealing with family separation than the family court,” Mr Cockman said.