Police investigate death of Elmars Kalejs after he was found injured beside car in Bedfordale
Detectives are investigating the suspected homicide of a man who died in a Perth hospital, two months after he was found lying next to his car with serious injuries in Perth's south-east on Good Friday.
Elmars Kalejs, 53, was found by a passer-by on April 18, sprawled unconscious next to the driver's side door of his silver Holden Commodore sedan in a car park near the Settlers' Common Environmental Centre in Bedfordale.
Emergency services attended the scene and took him to Royal Perth Hospital with head injuries and broken ribs.
Mr Kalejs died two months later.
Homicide Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Jarrod Manson said officers still did not know how Mr Kalejs sustained his injuries.
"It may be from a vehicle and it may be from an assault and that's what we're here trying to figure out," he said.
Senior Sergeant Manson said police were looking for anyone who saw him in the 24-hour period before he was located.
"It's Good Friday, so there would have been people travelling towards Albany, or down towards the south-west, so they've got dash cam [footage] heading along Albany Highway that can assist our inquiry," he said.
"Somebody out there may know what happened and exactly how Mr Kalejs sustained these injuries."
Senior Sergeant Manson said there was no evidence to suggest any further risk to the public and described the incident as "rare".
"We understand [he] was sleeping in his car at this location and there's been no other incidents that we're aware of, where someone's been injured in such a manner," he said.
Mr Kalejs' daughter, Courtney Mallard, said her family wanted to know what happened so they could have closure.
"Please just help, if you know anything it's OK, we forgive anyone who's done it. Just please come forward," she said.
"We just need closure as a family."
Ms Mallard said her father was a loving, gentle man who "lived off the land."
"It's been pretty hard these last few months, as Elmars didn't get to meet his final, third grandson," she said.
Homicide Squad officers will be located at a mobile police facility in the Armadale CBD this week to speak to members of the public.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
23 minutes ago
- ABC News
ATM supplier atm2go begins removes machines from stores linked to illicit tobacco trade
A second ATM supplier – whose machines were once used by a cannabis kingpin – has begun pulling out its devices from stores linked to the illicit tobacco trade. The move by Queensland-based atm2go follows an ABC investigation which revealed how ATM companies were fuelling predominantly cash sales of illegal cigarettes by placing their private machines in stores. Rival supplier Next Payments publicly acknowledged the problem late last month and began removing 40 machines it believed were linked to the illicit trade. Major payments processing company EFTEX, which industry sources said handled transactions for atm2go, has vowed to cease handling transactions for tobacco stores from September following media scrutiny. Atm2go refused to discuss the matter when contacted by the ABC. "No comment," one senior member of the company said this week, before hanging up. The ABC had found atm2go machines in a string of stores selling illicit cigarettes — with sales occurring even after some shops in Queensland had been suspended by health authorities for breaching tobacco laws. Court documents also showed atm2go had cut deals to install ATMs with a man charged and later convicted with proceeds of crime and tobacco offences. In another case in Darwin, a man jailed for massive cannabis dealing had atm2go machines that he told an underling to load with drug cash. The ABC this week revisited four south-east Queensland locations that had been selling illegal cigarettes. In the past two months, atm2go machines were found inside but the machines were gone this week from three shops. A sign outside one of the stores in Oxley, on Brisbane's southside, said: "The ATM has been removed. Please use the ATM located inside where Woolies is." People with knowledge of the machines said the removalists had come suddenly. The fourth store in inner Brisbane's West End had a sign plastered across the atm2go machine saying it was not working and implored customers to: "please bring cash next time as the ATM will be out for awhile!" Atm2go was once heavily focused on events and used a franchise system, but industry sources said COVID-19 and ensuing lockdowns had disrupted its model. The company had in recent years been crowing in social media posts about putting machines in stores selling tobacco. Federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's office has asked regulators to examine private ATMs.
ABC News
23 minutes ago
- ABC News
James Cook University medical student allowed to continue studies after domestic violence assault
A Queensland university is under pressure to take disciplinary action against a medical student who has been sentenced for domestic violence assault. The James Cook University student pleaded guilty this week in the Townsville Magistrate's Court to assault occasioning bodily harm. He was sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to pay $500 compensation, with no conviction recorded. The university confirmed a staff member provided a character reference for the student in a personal capacity. The ABC understands the student is now on leave, with the university considering further action in the wake of the court decision. The James Cook University Medical Students' Association released a statement saying it was deeply disturbed at the reports. "There is absolutely no place for violence, abuse or intimidation in the medical profession," the statement read. "No-one in our community should have to experience harm." Townsville nurse Emma Coppens wrote an open letter to the university criticising it for allowing the student to continue their studies in the wake of the court action. Ms Coppens, who spoke with the victim, said she was alarmed the student was on track to graduate as a doctor. "I'm just a nurse, I'm just a mum, but I think I speak for so many people when I say that we've had enough of the soft reactions to these kind of things," Ms Coppens said. The ABC has seen a letter sent to medical students this week by College of Medicine and Dentistry dean Sarah Larkins, referring to a "negative media story" involving a student. "I would like to reiterate the position that there is no place for any form of violence, including domestic and family violence, in medicine or health care," she said. A spokesperson for the university said a complaint was investigated when the matter was first reported to JCU in August 2022, but its outcome was confidential. They said in view of the court decision, the university would continue to respond in accordance with its policies and procedures. A spokesperson for state Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the student was not currently working in "any capacity" for Queensland Health. Queensland Police have been contacted for comment on whether they will seek to appeal the student's sentence.
ABC News
23 minutes ago
- ABC News
Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School Moss Vale to be demolished
A disused private school with a tragic history has sat empty on a lush country estate south of Sydney for decades. But now, half a century after it closed its doors, the Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School (SCEGGS) in Moss Vale has been approved for demolition. The decision by Wingecarribee Shire Council's local planning panel has shed renewed light on the site's unwanted place in Australian history. In 1961, an armed intruder entered the school and took a group of girls hostage inside its chapel before fatally shooting student Wendy Luscombe. Julia McKay and dozens of other students hid underneath the pews. "I remember getting home and telling my mother and father. [They] were incredulous and said: 'That can't be true', and then they saw it on the news that night," Ms McKay said. The shooter, Leonard Lawson, was eventually sentenced to life in prison. He became known as the "comic-book killer" and the fate of murals he painted on the walls of the old Grafton jail was recently the subject of furious debate. Despite that dark chapter in its history, Ms McKay, now 73, said it was "terribly tragic" that the historic buildings have deteriorated beyond the point of restoration. It was financial mismanagement, rather than tragedy, that forced the school to close 13 years later. Local historian David Baxter said a misappropriation of funds by the controller of the Anglican Diocesan schools caused the wider SCEGGS network to disband, resulting in the closure of campuses at Moss Vale, Bowral, and Wollongong. He said during its prime, SCEGGS Moss Vale was a well-known institution in private education run on a 150-hectare property with an on-site dairy, ornate gardens, tennis court, and lake. Heather Cobham attended the school as a boarder in 1974 and said she enjoyed the close-knit community. "It was like having the sisters I never had. I also remember it being a very sporty place too," she said. Mr Baxter said the site had a colourful history long before it became a school. The hilltop property called "Austermere" was acquired by English settler William Hutchins in 1822 before being passed on to his son-in-law Sir John Lackey, a magistrate and NSW politician. The property included a private railway line, which allowed Sir John to travel to Sydney. "It was basically used to drop him home," Mr Baxter said. "And when the duplication of the railway line happened years later, Austermere wasn't required, so they bypassed it through to Moss Vale." The grounds were transformed into an orphanage in the 1920s, before the subdivided block was sold to SCEGGS in 1930. More recently, plans to turn the property into a residential aged-care home were fought through the NSW Supreme Court but were knocked back. Austemere House and the surrounding grounds were recognised by Wingecarribee Shire Council as items of heritage significance in 2010. But the empty site has since fallen into disrepair. In July, the local planning panel approved the demolition of the remaining buildings, including Austermere House. The application by Fides Environmental Pty Ltd on behalf of the owners said the buildings "do not meet the thresholds for NSW heritage criteria". "The buildings are potentially no longer safe and pose a threat to the local community and the environment with windblown materials and a severe fire risk," it said. As part of consent conditions, a Heritage Asset Action Plan must be created before demolition works can start, detailing what materials and vegetation can be salvaged, as well as how the site's history will be made publicly available. The ABC has attempted to contact the property's owners, the Lam Family Trust, to enquire about the future of the site.
