By Amber Schultz, Riley Walter and Sally Rawsthorne
Social media photos of a young Blue Mountains family cast a portrait of a perfect life.
The images show a mother and her two young sons, celebrating Christmas on the beach and the two boys playing in the sand and exploring a waterfall. From the outside, they are a happy, loving family.
Trish Smith, who has been arrested, and her sons Ben and Russell, who were found dead in their Blue Mountains home.
But on Tuesday afternoon, that image was replaced with a crime scene that cut to the core of even the most senior police investigating how the boys, Ben and Russell Smith, aged nine and 11, were killed inside their Faulconbridge home. Their mother, Trish Smith, has been arrested and is under police guard with self-inflicted injuries.
Just before 1pm, the boys’ father, who had separated from 42-year-old Smith, called triple zero after he found the bodies of his two sons and his former partner distressed and injured.
“This is about as tragic as it gets for any police veteran,” Superintendent John Nelson said.
“The Blue Mountains is a very peaceful, community-minded environment, so they [the community] will be genuinely shocked.”
Momento of a happier time: Smith and her sons in a 2021 beachside Christmas photo from Facebook.
Smith was taken to Westmead Hospital shortly after their bodies were discovered and has since been arrested. She is in a stable condition and has not been charged.
While Nelson said Smith was known to police in relation to minor matters, police sources said there was no family history of domestic violence. Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to the deaths and are investigating whether a mental health episode was a potential cause of the tragedy.
Neighbours on Chapman Parade were shocked by the deaths of the boys.
“It just seems to be a never-ending circle of violence for families and people involved,” said Amy Daly, who occasionally saw the boys walking along the street.
“The poor father is now trying to pick up the pieces of a life that was once that will never be again. I feel very sorry for [the mother] too, to be in [that] state of mind.”
Joanne Mader said she heard the news on the radio, but didn’t realise it was her street until she arrived home from work to police cordons and cars.
Neighbour Joanne Mader speaks to the media.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“I was pretty frightened, scared, and just really shocked to know how close it was to home,” she said.
“You don’t really ever think that it’s going to be literally down the road from you.”
Another photo of the boys on Smith’s social media profile shows them tucked tightly either side of her, surrounded by autumn leaves and smiling brightly at the camera.
The younger boy, perched on his mother’s knee, plays with a fallen leaf. His brother, arms spread wide, bears the dirty knees of a childhood spent exploring the outdoors near his Blue Mountains home. Smith holds them close.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the boys attended school on Monday.
“The older and the more experienced you get in this job, things like this still cut to the core,” she said.
Police at the Faulconbridge crime scene.Credit: Wolter Peeters
“What is not lost on me is that we’ve got officers here that have got children this age and that’s a normal human reaction that people would be affected when they’ve lost kids around their own children’s age. It’s a tragic situation.”
Leonne, who also lives on Chapman Parade and asked for her surname not to be used, said it was a quiet neighbourhood with no crime.
“It’s shocking to expect that anything to that degree would ever happen here,” she said.
Blue Mountains City Council Mayor Mark Greenhill described the deaths as “tragic” and “heartbreaking”.
“Our community has lost two precious souls in the most awful circumstances and I know this will affect us all in some way,” he said in a statement on social media.
“Now is a time to come together and remember these two beautiful children and their extended family whose grief must be ... unimaginable.”
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service (1800RESPECT) on 1800 737 732.
If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue.
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clarification
A previous version of this story said the boys’ mother called triple zero, based on information from police. It was their father.