Andy Marshall's Parents Visit Cottesloe

from The West Australian

The parents of musician Andy Marshall say the culture of violence must stop before anyone else loses their life so senselessly.

"It must stop here in Perth and in Australia as it must in New Zealand at home as well, where innocent lives are being taken," Wendy Marshall said.

Wendy and Alan Marshall came to Perth from New Zealand for the first time late last week to see where their 29-year-old son had been living for almost three years.

But instead of being met by his smiling face at the airport, they came to pack his possessions and visit the place where he died.

Andy Marshall, a drummer with Perth band Rich Widow, wasallegedly pushed through a window at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe on May 8, falling 7m to his death.

“We have to, in some way, make what happened here ... count for something,” Mr Marshall said. “People need to feel safe.”

“You don’t know if you’re going to save somebody ... by saying something.

“You might not ever know that but maybe someone’s life will be spared and some other family’s agony will be spared.”

He said people needed to be responsible and held accountable for their actions and not have “easy outs” by blaming alcohol, their upbringing or other factors.

The Marshalls said their gentle, caring son — who had “the gift of joy” — should never have died in such circumstances.

They hoped that by telling their story, they could stop another family from going through the same pain.

“When we brought him home, he came home in a box,” Mr Marshall said. “How’s that supposed to make sense?”

Mrs Marshall said she had half-expected her adventurous son to be injured while bungee jumping or parachuting.

The Marshalls said the horrific news that their son, the second of their three children, had died had blown their world apart.

Their son died 10 months to the day after their nephew, Scott Guy, was shot to death on his New Zealand farm.

Mr and Mrs Marshall said Andy was full of energy and life but also had an “amazingly gentle, quiet nature”.

“We think he had the gift of joy, his smile lit up the room,” Mr Marshall said. “Every child just fills your life 100 per cent, so when one of them goes it just feels like you’ve totally lost everything in a way and yet we’ve still got two beautiful children with partners.”

At their home in Tauranga on New Zealand’s North Island, they had no connection to Perth and felt isolated from the community’s disbelief and anger over their son’s death.

“I think it definitely helps to be here and to feel perhaps what’s going on,” Mr Marshall said.

They said their thoughts were with the family of Luke Adams,the 19-year-old footballer left fighting for his life after he was allegedly assaulted in Northbridge on May 1.

The Marshalls laid a wreath on Friday under the window atthe beachside hotel where theirson fell and spent time at theweekend with some of his close Perth mates.

They said facing what had happened to their son was an important step in their grieving but they were unsure whether they would return to Perth for the court case over his death.

Whatever happened, it would not bring their son back.

“That’s what we’re finding, just day-by-day nothing’s going to change, nothing will bring Andy back to us and that’s what you live with,” Mrs Marshall said.

Despite their sorrow, the Marshalls said they wanted people to share their faith and confidence that they would see their son again and that he was in a good place.

“To share suffering without hope, it’s got no point,” Mr Marshall said. “We know we’ll see him again and we know he’s safe.”

Stefan Pahia Schmidt is charged with Mr Marshall’s murder and will next appear in Stirling Gardens Magistrate’s Court on June 15.