A Commission executive allegedly sent his staff an email describing Lismore killer James Harrison as a ‘wonderful colleague and beloved friend’.
A “tone deaf” email sent to staff at the NSW Health Clinical Excellence Commission, allegedly by its director of information management, has described Lismore killer James Harrison as “a wonderful colleague and beloved friend”.
Mr Harrison is believed to have killed his two-year-old son Rowan and then himself on Sunday during a planned custody visit. It has since been revealed that Mr Harrison was the subject of an apprehended violence order to protect his child’s mother, Dr Sophie Roome, who raised the alarm when Rowan was not dropped back to her on time.
Today, the Daily Telegraph named the CEC’s director of information management Andre Jenkins as the sender of an email leaked to the DT.
After a morning staff meeting the email was sent to CEC staff, announcing that “support services” were available.
“It is with indescribable sadness that I find myself letting you know that James Harrison and his son Rowan died on Sunday,” the email read, according to the DT.
Staff said the email was “tone-deaf” email and failed to acknowledge that NSW Police were treating the deaths of Harrison and his son as a murder-suicide.
“There are no words to adequately describe the loss of a wonderful colleague and beloved friend,” the email allegedly read.
The email repeated statements allegedly made in the staff meeting which caused “severe distress”, the DT wrote.
The email praised Mr Harrison as “generous with his time”.
“Many of you also shared and memories of Rowan popping up in meetings with his proud dad,” the email is reported to have said.
In a statement to HSD, NSW Health said it “does not endorse and did not approve the inappropriate email sent by an individual staff member to a number of their colleagues”.
“The tragic events that unfolded in Lismore last weekend are having a profound impact on the community, including many of our staff members,” the statement read.
“Our focus is on making sure support is available for staff members who need it during this difficult time and in the days and weeks to come.”
A spokesperson for NSW Health refused to confirm the identity of the email sender, out of “respect for the person’s privacy”.
The spokesperson also said the sender was “not a senior executive”.