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Psychologist tells of horrific abuse suffered by John Edwards' children

<span>Photograph: AAP</span>
Photograph: AAP

More than a year before John Edwards murdered his son and daughter, a family psychologist formed the opinion his teenage children were in danger of violence if they spent time alone with him, the New South Wales coroner’s court has heard.

The inquest into the 5 July 2018 deaths of 15-year-old Jack Edwards, 13-year-old Jennifer Edwards and, by suicide, their 67-year-old father, John, has heard from several psychologists and a social worker who individually spoke with each member of the family, including mother Olga, during the Edwards’ family court proceedings.

Their sessions began with one psychologist in 2016 until 2017, while another psychologist began in 2017.

John and Olga had separated in 2016 and the children began living with their mother, with the last of the psychology sessions occurring in April 2018, three months before John tracked down his children at the West Pennant Hills house they were living in with Olga, and killed them.

Related: John Edwards inquest unravels questions at the heart of father’s killings

Olga committed suicide five months later.

On Wednesday, the latter family psychologist, who cannot be legally identified, said that during her sessions with the family, they individually outlined how John had been violent, mostly to Jack, to an extent that the psychologist feared John’s “retribution” if he knew her true opinion of him.

The instances included a “clip over the ear” of Jack, kicking him on the “fleshy part of [Jack’s] bum”, beating and slapping Jack to the point his nose bled, grabbing his son by the throat and pushing him against a wall during a family trip to Paris, and using the “finger treatment” – an army technique “to get someone to do something” – on Jack.

The psychologist said it was hearing these stories that made her realise John had been lying to her about his violence.

The children had conveyed to the psychologist they no longer wanted to see their father, she said, that they felt Debbie Morton – the independent lawyer who represented Jack and Jennifer’s interests during family court proceedings – didn’t listen to their concerns of violence.

The psychologist denied claims by Morton that she had agreed to a plan for Jack to live with his abusive father if Olga was uncooperative in facilitating visits of the children to John.

“I would never agree to the children being restored to him ... if I didn’t feel they were safe enough to be in a joint session, how would I feel they would be safe living with him?”

Earlier, the psychologist said alternative arrangements were made after it was proposed that John would pick up Jack from Hornsby station for an hour-long drive to an appointment.

“I never felt Jack was safe with John,” she said, fearing Jack would be emotionally or psychologically abused in the car trip.

The psychologist said she told Morton she thought John was “more dangerous than he appears”, but asked her not to tell him this because “I feared his retribution on me”.

“Not physically ... I feared he would professionally try to denigrate me, my reputation,” she said.

The psychologist also heard that in a conversation between her and Morton ahead of a family court proceeding, Morton described Olga as presenting like a “hard-nosed bitch” in court, which the psychologist claimed she disagreed with.

Related: It is ‘all men’, to varying degrees: men’s violence against women is a systemic crisis | Brad Chilcott

At one point, while herself questioning the psychologist at Wednesday’s hearing, Morton expressed frustration at the non-publication orders on the identities of others giving evidence while she had been named.

“The press have been allowed to splash my name all over the papers while everyone else has a non-publication order,” Morton said.

Later on Wednesday, the inquest heard from the family’s previous psychologist, who could also not be identified, that she had noted concerns about the family’s therapy in the relevant NSW government online tool, which told her to document and monitor the family.

Earlier this week, the inquest heard John Edwards spent 90 minutes improving his shooting accuracy under the supervision of a gun club official less than three months before murdering his children,

The inquest resumes on Thursday.