Gathered to remember two-year-old Rowan,who was last Sunday night killed by his father James Harrison in a murder-suicide that shocked the state,the crowd was mute,some with tears streaming down their faces.
Sophie Roome is comforted by family,friends and the community of Lismore at a vigil for her son Rowan,2,who was murdered by his father last Sunday. Elise Derwin
Among those gathered was Lismore doctor Sophie Roome,the mother of the murdered toddler who last week said she and her family were facing “incomprehensible grief”.
Roome attended the vigil with family and friends,and did not address the crowd or speak.
About a dozen small children,some who had attended swimming lessons with Rowan,attended the vigil.
After the vigil finished at 7pm and attendees went home,Roome returned alone to look at the candles and flowers left in tribute to her murdered son.
Lismore residents including young children at the vigil for Rowan.Elise Derwin
The bodies of Harrison,38,and his two-year-old son,Rowan,were found inside Harrison’s unit at East Lismore in the NSW Northern Rivers on Sunday night. Rowan had been visiting his father at the unit,where Harrison lived alone.
“Rowan’s life was ended by an evil and cowardly act of violence,perpetrated by a person he should have been able to trust the most. There are no possible excuses for this hurt,and no end to the pain it has caused,” Roome said in a statement released with her family on Thursday.
Sophie Roome and her son Rowan,2.Supplied
TheHerald last week revealed that Roome had taken an interim apprehended domestic violence order out against her former partner in July last year;in February,the matter returned to court,where Harrison consented to an ADVO.
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