Anh Do wipes away a tear as Rosie recounts her tragic story.Source:ABC
Police who were called to the Tyabb cricket ground that night fatally shot Luke’s father, after capsicum spray failed to subdue him.
Ms Batty told Do that she felt fortunate they did.
“I think I’m lucky in an unlucky way that Greg actually did die,” she said.
“And when I say that, it’s because I didn’t have to go through a criminal trial and also, I don’t have to deal with mixed emotions about Luke being dead and Greg being alive.
“I felt Greg was a tortured soul. I don’t hate him. I feel a lot of sorrow for his family.”
Ms Batty tearfully told Do that four years on, her son’s death continues to haunt her every single day.
“It’s still hard, every day,” she said.
“There’ll be a moment in every day, every day, that you just … the emotion is just simmering underneath.”
Ms Batty described the unexpected gift of her son as “the best thing that ever happened to me”.
“I was really lucky, because he was a really beautiful little boy,” she said.
“He was really beautiful, and everyone used to say how handsome he was. And he was beautiful and he was funny.
“But, you know, he was really sweet, because sometimes if I was upset, and it could’ve been because Greg had done something, whatever it may be, you know, he’d sometimes write me a little note and just say, you know, “I love you, Mum,” or something.
“I used to think, ‘Gosh, I’m really proud that I have a little boy that knows how to reach out to you and say, ‘It’s OK, Mum.’”
She told Do that Luke once apologised to her after unsuccessfully trying to intervene in an attack on her by his father.