Qld: Former aspiring politician believed to have murdered kids

AAP General News (Australia)
04-26-2004
Qld: Former aspiring politician believed to have murdered kids

By Nikki Todd

BRISBANE, April 26 AAP - A former One Nation federal candidate is believed to have
murdered his two young children before taking his own life in a tragic double murder-suicide
in Brisbane.

Jayson Dalton, 32, who contested the federal Queensland seat of Kennedy for One Nation
in 1998, was found dead in his Kelvin Grove home in Brisbane's inner-north yesterday.

His two young children, 13-week-old baby Patrick and his one-year-old sister Jessie,
were found lying beside each other in a bed, believed to have been smothered to death.

Post-mortem examinations will be conducted on the bodies tomorrow.

The aspiring politician, who also ran against Premier Peter Beattie as an independent
in the 2001 state election, was involved in a custody dispute with his estranged wife.

The couple, who owned a furniture business in Brisbane, are believed to have split
about two months ago and were involved in a legal battle for custody of the children.

The mother of the children was hospitalised for shock after collapsing outside the
Queenslander-style home last night, while the children's grandfather had to be restrained
by police.

A plastic toy scooter, discarded on the back deck of the house, was today the only
reminder of the children's recent presence.

Nearby, curtains were drawn and security grilles firmly locked as people living near
the home, located on one of Brisbane's busiest roads, declined to talk to the media.

Police are expected to confirm the names of the deceased after the post-mortem examinations
are completed tomorrow.

The incident is the second death of a family in a rumoured murder-suicide in Queensland
this month.

On Easter Sunday, a family of four were killed when a fire tore through their farm
house at Feluga about 8km north of Tully.

Relatives of the family believe the explosion may have been deliberately planned by
the father, who died alongside his wife and two daughters aged nine and 18.

AAP nt/mo/jlw
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KEYWORD: KELVIN NIGHTLEAD

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