this is shocking, page-49

re: this is shocking..gz An article from the West Australian Newspaper.


My boy's not violent: alleged killer's mum

GARY ADSHEAD, LUKE MORFESSE and ROY GIBSON


The mother of a man accused of murdering an eight-year-old schoolgirl inside a Perth shopping centre toilet told The West Australian last year that he "hasn't got a violent bone in his body".

Speaking to a reporter about an unrelated matter, Suzanne Arthurs said her baby-faced 21-year-old son Dante - now at the centre of one of the State's most chilling murder cases - did not have a criminal record.

For legal reasons The West Australian cannot reveal why Mrs Arthurs and her son spoke to the newspaper this time last year.

At 5am yesterday, major crime squad detectives swooped on the family's Canning Vale home, just five minutes from the Livingston Marketplace shopping centre where pretty Banjup schoolgirl Sofia Rodriguez-Urritia-Shu was found naked and strangled in a disabled toilet near Big W.

About four hours later, Mr Arthurs was charged at Cannington police station with deprivation of liberty, sexual penetration and murder.

A car and a computer hard drive were removed from the house.

His alleged crime has shaken the confidence of every parent in the State and left its mark on even the most experienced homicide investigators in the WA Police.

"It is an horrific offence against a young child, an innocent young child who made the fatal mistake of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," murder inquiry boss Det-Sen. Sgt John Wibberley said.

Sofia's brutal fate was sealed soon after 4pm on Monday when she went to the toilet during an after-school trip to the shopping centre with her 14-year-old brother, 11-year-old sister and uncle.

Police will allege that within seconds of her walking into a disabled toilet, separate to the male and female rooms, Mr Arthurs grabbed Sofia, sexually abused her and strangled her.

"We will allege it was a spur of the moment attack at this stage," Sen. Sgt Wibberley said.

Several minutes later Sofia's family members went to find her and after disturbing her alleged killer in the locked, disabled toilet he burst past them, down the passage and out into the carpark.

"A young child of that age, vulnerable, in a place where you would feel safe too," Sen. Sgt Wibberley said.

"That a thing like this could happen, and in such an area, is very bad."

Sofia's uncle, who with his nephew discovered the girl's body slumped in the toilet, spent many hours with police on Monday night trying to help their investigation.

The girl's father was in Hong Kong when he received word of the murder, but the family released a statement yesterday afternoon.

"We are all devastated by the sudden and senseless loss of Sofia," it read.

"We have received immense support from the police, the parish and from the school community which we greatly appreciate. Please keep Sofia and our family in your thoughts and prayers."

With police cars coming and going from the Arthurs' family home in Jeremiah Way much of yesterday, residents were stunned to hear of their neighbour's alleged crime against such a young, defenceless child.

One man said he read about Sofia's death over breakfast and when he saw the police and media in his street, he felt cold.

"He (Mr Arthurs) said hello every time we saw him, but that was it," the neighbour said.

For much of his childhood Mr Arthurs, who works part-time at a shop, lived in England, but he returned to Perth with his family in 2001 to complete high school.

He has an older brother and police said the parents were being very co-operative.

"We had a perfectly normal life," Mrs Arthurs told paper The West Australian last year. "We had eight years in England, living in the south of England."

A school ball photo showed Mr Arthurs in 2003 enjoying a night out with friends from North Lake Senior Campus.

What would motivate him to kill in the way he is alleged to have taken Sofia's life has baffled Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan.

"It's one of the most shocking cases that I've ever heard of and I know much more detail and it's quite horrific," he said.

Dressed in a police-issue blue jump suit and with nothing on his feet, Mr Arthurs made a two- minute appearance in Perth Magistrate's Court yesterday.

He was not required to plead to the three charges.

Mr Arthurs stood silently with his head bowed.