The weekend’s events in Bega and Bournda are a tragedy of the highest order.
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Two lives lost, a family shattered for reasons yet to be made clear, and a community once again grieving for the loss of innocents...and innocence.
Tributes have already begun flooding in for former police officer Mick Horne and community sympathies for the family he leaves behind.
The initial attack is truly awful in and of itself. The stabbing of elderly couple Gail and Thomas Winner in their own home, allegedly by their grandson, beggars belief in our small community. The reasons for which might be made clearer during the court proceedings so we won’t comment on that here.
However, that a man in the wrong place at the wrong time has also become a victim, and the repercussions on his family and friends, is also unfathomable.
From all accounts, Mick Horne was well liked and well respected both as a Highway Patrol officer and a Tura local.
Countless messages of love and sympathy flooded the Bega District News and Merimbula News Weekly Facebook feeds when we broke the sad news on Sunday evening. (Some brought a lump to the back of this editor’s throat as well, despite not knowing him personally)
We can’t even imagine how the police officers responding to the incident on Friday night must’ve felt.
They were already dealing with a bloody incident and multiple car crashes across several localities on a freezing cold and rainy night. Only to then discover the person they are attending to is one of their own.
It’s a huge credit to everyone involved in the pursuit and capture of a suspect that it came off without any further injury to anyone involved.
Credit also for the incredible swift response of Polair search aircraft and specialist tactical police officers coming south to assist our local men and women in blue on what was surely a trying – and devastating – night.
It’s an essential element of our justice system that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. For that reason, updates from the courthouse will continue to be published on our websites and in print as and when we have current factual information, but they will not appear on Facebook where unmoderated reader commentary could potentially affect legal proceedings.