Perth man wrote chilling to-do list and ways to get away with crime before killing three daughters, wife
Mass murderer Anthony Harvey on Friday became the first person ever to be given life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in West Australia since 2008.
The 25-year-old man from Perth murdered five members of his family, including his wife, mother in law and three young daughters in cold blood at their Bedford home on September 3, 2018.
At the sentencing Friday, more details of the horrifying murder came to light, including his diary in which he wrote down the various ways in which he could carry out the crime.
In one such entry, he wrote, "Call Mara's work, fake injury, call Andrew, give away all jobs, call girl's school, def interstate."
Harvey was sentenced for butchering his 41-year-old wife Mara, their daughters Charlotte, 3, and two-year-old twins Alice and Beatrix, and their grandmother Beverley Quinn, 73.
In another journal entry, he wrote about the things he could do besides murdering them.
"Leaving unannounced/seeking a divorce = least heat. Making entire family disappear = no money. Eliminate family and embezzle funds = prep."
He had also written in the diary about embracing his "animal instincts".
"I must embrace my darkness and animal instincts. Tonight, I will kill my wife... then smother my children," he had written.
The couple had been married for three years.
"I am no psycho. I feel. I feel too much, I always have... I will regret what I do," he wrote.
In another entry, he had said, "Biggest problem: money and how to successfully clear out bank accounts. Not concerned with trace, Just need the coin. So Cash City, multiple transfer, big risks. Body in trailer? Body in veggie patch? Body in bed? Sell car, hock valuables. Withdraw money. Buy incognito car. Buy a dog/dogs. Leave."
Justice Stephen Hall, who sentenced Harvey to life on Friday, said, "There is no other case that is truly comparable".
His wife Mara had just returned from her work at a Coles supermarket nearby when he hit with a blunt instrument and stabbed her at least 12 times
Harvey then stabbed his daughter Charlotte 38 times.
The children were all stabbed while they were sleeping.
His mother-in-law Quinn had come to their home the next morning and she was hit with a pipe and then stabbed to death by Harvey.
In a bizarre turn of events, he moved the dead bodies to the kid's room and arranged them to look like they were sleeping, putting their favorite toys near them.
He had written in the notes about how sorry he was. He took pictures of the bodies and stayed with them for five days.
In the note to his wife, he said, "To my beautiful wife, I'm so sorry. I would give anything to undo what I've done. I think I've lost my mind. Take care of those little girls like you always do. I love you so much."
And to his mother in law, he said, "Beverley, I'm so, so, so very sorry. You all deserved so much better. I truly hope you are somewhere better. I know I never said it but I love you. I'm so sorry."
He had then taken some money out of his dead wife's account, traveled to his parents home in Pannawonica and confessed to the murders.
He had made his wife sign over the account on the morning of the day of the murder.
His father had immediately called the police.
"I've done something really wrong, Dad… I hurt them. All of them," he said.
Harvey and his wife ran a lawnmowing business before the murders.
Justice Hall, while delivering the sentence, also spoke about the children being murdered in their sleep, "They should have been able to trust their father to protect them. That is the most fundamental duty any parent has. You breached that trust and failed in that duty in the most extreme way imaginable."