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'Just horrific': Friends of Australian man who killed kids in Bali speak out

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  • Friends of Damien John Shaw have described their shock and horror after the Australian man killed himself and his two children at their Bali home on Sunday.
  • Bali police are investigating what they say is a double murder-suicide, after the bodies of the 56-year-old and his six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were found inside their bungalow in the popular tourist resort of Kuta.
  • Bunbury resident Tania Dagnall said she and her husband had been friends with Mr Shaw for the past 11 years.
  • Ms Dagnall said she was sad that Mr Shaw had not reached out to them.
  • Police said Mr Shaw's body was being examined at Sanglah Hospital.

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  • The headline puts “Just horrific” in quotation marks. Nobody says those words anywhere in the report.

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Friends of Damien John Shaw have described their shock and horror after the Australian man killed himself and his two children at their Bali home on Sunday.

WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions some readers may find distressing.

Bali police are investigating what they say is a double murder-suicide, after the bodies of the 56-year-old and his six-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were found inside their bungalow in the popular tourist resort of Kuta.

Denpasar City police said an autopsy would not be carried out on the children at the request of their mother.

Mr Shaw's wife told police she had filed for a divorce in 2022.

Bunbury resident Tania Dagnall said she and her husband had been friends with Mr Shaw for the past 11 years.

"If he has done this, there's no excuse for it, never any excuse for that, ever."

Ms Dagnall said she was sad that Mr Shaw had not reached out to them.

The ABC understands Mr Shaw was originally from Perth but had lived in Bali for decades and had converted to Islam when he married his wife about six or seven years ago.

Mr Shaw had several properties in Perth and overseas, including a house in Japan, Ms Dagnall said, which he used as a base for snowboarding.

Despite being financially stable, Mr Shaw's marriage had become tense in recent months, friends say.

Police said Mr Shaw's body was being examined at Sanglah Hospital.

Shortened to 1 minute of reading, this version reads 10.5 on the Niral Score.

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is ABC News (Just In)'s report shortened to its most important sentences, in plainer words, with verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it

No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.

Outlet Niral ScoreAdjectivesSourcingSentimentHappiness
ABC News (Just In)as they published this story 11.8 4 82 -0.5 7.1
Mundane Readneutralized from ABC News (Just In) 11.4 4 82 -0.5 7.1

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