Melbourne homicide: father’s heartbreaking call after mother and 3 children were found dead at home

More details have emerged after a woman and her three young children were found dead inside her family’s Melbourne home on Thursday.

Emergency crews found the bodies of Katie Perinovic, 43, and Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3.

The children’s 48-year-old father, Tomislav Perinovic, made a desperate and distressing emergency call and was found by paramedics sitting in the front yard of the house.

Perinovic is being treated as a “person of interest” and has given his version of what happened to the police.

Victoria police told the Daily Mail Australia that Perinovic was still in custody and assisting investigators with their investigations at 12.30am on Friday, 12 hours after he first called the police in an “extremely distressed” state.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Robert Hill said that while the investigation is in its early stages, the woman and her children “died under suspicious circumstances.”

“As for who is guilty of the deaths of the four people, it has not yet been determined and we should not draw any conclusions at this time.”

He said it would be “grossly unfair” to assume guilt on the grounds that the father is helping the police.

“We just have to understand the facts and unfortunately we do not know them, but we will know them in the fullness of time.”

“We have a long way to go before we can understand and appreciate what happened.”

When asked if it could be a murder-suicide, police said there were “several possibilities and that’s one.”

Hill said police would work methodically at the crime scene and that the man had provided police with his account of what happened.

“It is a tragic event to lose your life, under any circumstances,” he said.

“But when it comes to three children, the second event this week where we have seen the loss of children in horrible circumstances, it has an impact on the community.”

Acting Deputy Commissioner Mark Galliott said police would remain at the scene overnight.

“The loss of young lives in circumstances like this is difficult to understand.

“This will have lasting effects on the police that have served, the extended family, the community, the neighborhood, the emergency services and everyone else involved.

“They will be memories of a lifetime that they will have to deal with.”

Galliott said the information indicates the man was not injured.

There was no history of family violence associated with this family, Hill said.

Police did not release details about the injuries sustained by the victims.

A neighbor told NCA Newswire it was “horrible.”

“There are people everywhere, police everywhere.”

She said she heard the sirens around 12.30am, but didn’t hear anything unusual beforehand.

“My son actually came over and said ‘you have to take a look at this, Mom’ when the commotion started.”

Another woman who lives on the same street also said that she did not hear anything before the police arrived.

“We were wondering what the hell is going on.”

“We have never seen so many cops in this area.

“It’s so sad.”