Luke Batty killed by father at cricket training

British woman Rosie Batty and son Luke

They were at cricket practice with lots of other children and parents so when Rosie Batty's 11 year old son asked if he could spend a few more minutes with his dad, she said yes.  What could possibly happen with all these people around?  Then Greg Anderson bashed and stabbed his son to death.

Luke was playing with his father just moments before he was killed. "From what I could see, I thought it was an accident, I had no reason to think otherwise", his mother said.

Luke's mother Rosie said his father had a mental illness.  "He was in a homeless situation for many years, his life was failing, everything was becoming worse in his life and Luke was the only bright light in his life. No one loved Luke more than his father - no one loved Luke more than me - we both loved him."

Witnesses said that when Anderson turned the knife towards them, police shot him in the chest and he died soon after.

Australian cricketers pay their respects to the memory of Luke Batty.

Tyabb is a small town on the picturesque Mornington Peninsular, 75 kilometres from Melbourne.  Luke was a sixth-grade student at Flinders Christian Community College.

Luke Batty should still be alive and mental health professionals should be feeling pretty guilty right now.  They didn't speak up when the government decided to close down all the mental hospitals and went along with the policy of putting crazy people back on the streets, without supervision.

Luke Batty is the latest victim of Australia's inadequacy in looking after people with mental illness.