Leon Tarasinski
This brief story is about Leon Tarasinski. Leon was killed at Hernes Oak on February 16, 1999 by a dog. (Leon had gone to Hernes Oak on behalf of our daughter-the people renting our daughter’s house had shifted to the Hernes Oak address and had taken the only set of house keys with them. There were no spare sets of keys). The dog was guarding the property which was cultivating marijuana at the time. The marijuana was being grown in one of the garden plots at the front of the house. The dog was attached to excessively long chains (it could cover an area the size of a basketball court) and its kennel had been placed very near the front door. A Constable called to the scene of Leon’s death was also injured by the same dog. There were no warning signs on the front gate about the dog, the front gate had been left unlocked, and police established there was a person at home at the time. This person did not help Leon. A neighbor rang for an ambulance. The dog’s owner is Debra MARKS. At Leon’s Inquest in May 2001, the Coroner found she contributed to Leon’s death by “keeping an aggressive, vicious mongrel dog in such a way that it could, and would, attack.” No charges were made for my husband’s death or for the Constable’s injuries although charges were made for the marijuana found growing.
I am Leon’s wife. My name is Shelley and we were married for 40 years. Five children came from our union although one boy died soon after birth. We lived all over the place. Richmond, Kew, Lilydale, Burwood. In the 1970′s we ended up at Noojee where I was the postmistress. I had done my training for this at Box Hill. We sold that P.O. and bought the Kingsville P.O. It was there I trained the first Chinese postmistress in Victoria. After selling Kingsville we bought Thorpdale P.O. Leon had been a qualified driving instructor for years and he taught just about someone from every family in Thorpdale to drive. It was while we were at Noojee that Leon’s heart problems began. This went on for 20 years before his heart specialist arranged a bypass at Monash Medical Center. Leon had a quadruple bypass. He was in a coma for five days and was on the balloon pump which kept his heart beating. Monash actually rang me for my permission to turn off the pump because he could not stay on it forever. They said his heart would have to take over beating by itself and if it did not, well, he would be dead. What a time that was!
Leon recovered. He had such a strong will to survive. He first proved that when he left his home in Warsaw in 1939 with his cousin, Victor, and crossed the border into Russia. He joined the Russian Army when he was 14 (he said he was 17) and fought for 6 years on the Russian front. Because he had survived six years of war he was singled out for more training at Moscow. He did not want to go and he deserted from the Army and went back to Warsaw to find his family. He found the whole street had been bombed flat. A neighbor picking around in the rubble told him everyone on the entire street had been marched away by the Germans and after that the bombing started. Leon made inquiries through Red Cross but his entire family had vanished.
Leon’s bypass gave us back the man he was originally. All his natural good humors and loves of life was restored to him. He was a loving and much loved Grandfather and spent many happy hours in the company of his grandchildren. We had this totally delightful human being given back to us for approx. 3 years and then the dog killed him. Two grandchildren in particular felt his death severely as he was the only male figure in their lives. I, too, did not cope well in the 12 months after his death. I had two suspected heart attacks plus gallstone attacks. I went to bed for most of that year-lost interest in everything. First letter came from the Coroner’s office 17 months after Leon’s death. I replied to that letter and many more letters were sent out from then on-veterinarians, bylaws officer, Bureau of Animal Welfare, A.V.A., R.S.P.C.A.-excellent answer from Dr. H. Wirth— Premier S. Bracks, Hon. K. Hamilton-Minister for Agriculture (the dog was sold from the Traralgon Pound which was in his electorate and Leon was killed at Hernes Oak, also in his electorate), the Coroner Mr. Batt, police officers, State Coroner’s office, V.A.P., Grief Counseling, Ian Needham former J.P., my lawyer R. Davis, Noel McNamara C.V.S.A., the DPP, Acting Commissioners for Crime and General Policing, Chief Commissioner Ms. C. Nixon, Minister for Police etc. All of these people wrote back to me. I was not ignored.
These letters have culminated with the DPP considering a proposed change to the criminal law to cover the death of Leon. (Section S23 of the Crimes Act 1958). This is the first time in Victoria that criminal charges have been considered for a dog attack.
Motto-do not give up. Be determined and persistent. Eventually justice makes an appearance.
Shelley Tarasinski.
