Kath Pettingill, the mother of the Walsh Street police killers, dies
Kath Pettingill was the matriarch of the Melbourne crime family that was fictionalised in the 2010 movie Animal Kingdom.
Kath Pettingill, the mother of two men convicted in the 1988 Walsh Street police killings, passed away at the age of 91. Her children included Trevor Pettingill, Victor Peirce, and Dennis Bruce Allen, who was known as Mr. Death. The Walsh Street police killings involved the murder of Constables Steven Tynan and Damien Eyre, who had been dispatched to investigate a stolen car.
Police held the Pettingill family responsible for the attack, which was allegedly a revenge act following the fatal shooting of Graeme Jensen, a close friend of the family. Peirce's wife, Wendy, had initially been a crucial witness in the trial but later changed her stance and declined to testify after 18 months in witness protection.
Despite her family's criminal activities, Pettingill expressed regret in her 1996 interview, stating that she had always hoped to raise her children as law-abiding citizens.
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