Liz Grey introduced guest speaker Martha Jabour, Executive Director of the Homicide Victims Support Group since its inception in 1993. The HVSG was set up to provide ongoing support and counselling to the families and friends of homicide victims. Martha’s dream of having a place where, in particular, children affected by homicide can come for support, counselling and developing life skills to survive will become a reality with the opening of Grace’s Place later this year.
Martha Jabour said that she worked closely with former Assistant Police Commissioner John Laycock to help set up the Homicide Victims Support Group nearly 29 years ago. Up until that time there were no support services for families and friends of victims of homicide.
Martha’s journey started after the death of her second son Michael in 1986 when the Cot Death Support Group helped her to get through the difficult times after his death. Subsequent to this, she decided to study and professionally train as a bereavement and trauma counsellor. She then worked in the Mortuary Department at Glebe supporting people who came in to see their deceased loved ones.
In particular, Martha spoke about Ebony Simpson who was brutally murdered in Bargo in 1993 and saw the impact this had on everyone involved and what little ongoing counselling and support was available for the family, in particular the sons of Peter and Christine Simpson. Martha said she contacted Grace and Garry Lynch, who had 7 years earlier similarly suffered the equally brutal murder of their daughter Anita Cobby, to come and speak with the Simpsons.
With the help of the Lynches and the Simpsons, Martha set up the Homicide Victims Support Group – a job she thought she would work at for 12 months.
Work of HVSG
The families of the HVSG all care and support each other. Support is offered to all families within 72 hours of a homicide. The group work in partnership with the police and John Laycock works very closely co-ordinating the group with the police. No family misses out. They assist in helping organise funerals, dealing with media, education, talking to school friends and navigating the legal system. Funds are provided by the Health Department, together with their own fundraising projects. They listen to family members - what their needs are and the way they can help.
Grace’s Place
It was always Martha’s dream to have a place where the children and families can come for support, counselling and to learn skills to survive such a tragedy, in a residential environment. This is particularly so for the children – siblings and friends - of a homicide victim. This dream will become a reality later this year with the opening of Grace’s Place at Doonside, a house of 12 bedrooms which can support 24 people for as long as needed. The house has been named after Grace Lynch, the mother of Anita Cobby, who worked tirelessly for the group.
The primary purpose of Grace’s Place is to provide a unique place of healing and restoration for children traumatised by homicide, where they can be guided to believe in themselves and their future.
The property is on 2 acres at Doonside, and has been built at a cost of $10 million. Blacktown Council provided HVSG the land and the construction has been funded by both the Federal and State government. The HVSG just has to raise the funds to run Grace’s Place!
A project like this has never been undertaken before anywhere, and other states are now looking at setting up something similar. Martha is also receiving enquiries about the project from the FBI, the UK Metropolitan Police and other jurisdictions.
Changing Police Culture
John Laycock, a retired senior police investigator, spoke of the changing culture of the police. He saw a gap in the attitude of police with regards to the families of homicide victims where there had been no active support of families, and he has spent 20 years changing this and ensuring that police communicate with families, assist them and keep them apprised of investigations. He has assisted in solving some 700 murders in his career, and has set up an unsolved homicide department to re-look at unsolved cases.
Liz Grey thanked Martha for such an interesting and informative talk on a topic obviously close to her heart, and also thanked John for assisting Martha.
Ros Virtue
