Finding into death of Andrew Stanyer

Contributing factors

• Marital breakdown and anticipated separation
• Financial hardship and truck repossession
• Family estrangement (excluded from grandmother's 90th birthday and funeral)
• Belief of spouse infidelity with work supervisor
• Diagnosed depression
• History of previous suicide attempts (2000 and 2009)
• Significant physical health issues (post-myocardial infarction with triple bypass, cardiac stents)
• Possible undiagnosed prostate cancer
• Cannabis use
• Difficulty obtaining employment due to cardiac limitations
• Loss of control and autonomy
• Police intervention order requiring exclusion from family home and separation from children
• Police did not assess perpetrator's suicide risk during family violence callout

Coroner's recommendations

1. Victoria Police to publish an article in the Police Gazette (released every second Monday to all operational police officers) regarding the increased suicide risk of male perpetrators of intimate partner violence
2. Victoria Police to distribute an alert on the Victoria Police Family Violence intranet to alert operational police officers to the issue when accessing family violence information and documents
3. Victoria Police Family Violence Advisors and Team Leaders to communicate and highlight the issue of perpetrator suicide risk to their teams
4. Police officers attending family violence incidents should assess the mental well-being of alleged perpetrators, not just focus on victim protection, recognising that the perpetrator is the source of risk for family violence and potentially for self-harm
5. Future amendments to the Victoria Police Code of Practice for Investigation of Family Violence, the L17 risk assessment form, and related policy documents should consider including assessment of perpetrator mental health and suicide risk, to be determined after consultation with relevant stakeholders and consideration of Royal Commission into Family Violence recommendations