Son of Australian Millionaire, Francis Peter Tovey, Speaks Out About Father's Death

July 28, 2008

In March, I brought you the story of Francis Peter Tovey, an 81-year-old millionaire from Gold Coast, Australia, who allegedly committed suicide with the help of a homemade robot. Since that time, there has been much conjecture about the manner in which Francis died and the motive behind his alleged suicide. In an effort to separate fact from fiction, Francis's son, Dennis Tovey, has come forward to clear up some of the details in the case, which he has decided to share exclusively with Investigation Discovery.

"After having this story splashed across the world, under "Killer Robot" and been vilified in so many posts worldwide, I feel perhaps the time has come to talk about it," Dennis said in an email to Investigation Discovery, adding, "Your treatment of it seems fair, (although details are incorrect) so I have decided to begin with you."

According to Dennis, his family is upset by news articles, specifically one printed by the Gold Coast Bulletin, which said his father had "struggled to come to terms with demands by interstate relatives that he move out his home and into care."

"The original newspaper article was ill informed and entirely unhelpful with my sisters and myself grief," Dennis said. "To have our father's death not only spread throughout the Internet as it was, but also to be so villainized by people's belief that we have caused his death by our actions hurt deeply. We have a lot of anger still over the misinformation printed."

Dennis said that there is other information that he cannot release, until the coroner's report is finalized; however he wanted to shed some light on the events that led up to his father's death.

"The [report about the] family and [the] nursing home must have been a mix up of the reporters, jumping to the incorrect conclusion, that our fathers arguing of such was to do with him and us, when it [had to do] with his girlfriend of 23 years and her family," Dennis said. "Dad had helped her buy an upmarket unit in one of those high rise beach front towers on the Gold Coast by putting his hand in his own pocket, so he was co owner. He had paid the rates and other body corporate fees for a number of years. For the last 20 [years] he had paid most of her bills in fact, no help was forthcoming from her own children. When she had to go into hospital due to having a fall, (she was older than him), he put a lot of energy into getting her children to make the effort to visit her. This was about 2-plus years ago."

According to Dennis, the family of his father's girlfriend ultimately put her in a nursing home -- something which made his father extremely unhappy.

"Some of her children had wanted to sell the unit ever since she was admitted to hospital, but she believed that as long as she had it she would get better and live there again," Dennis said."Dad didn't want to take that away from her, so [he] supported her and kept the unit. He was paying all the bills anyway. He had been under pressure on this subject for the last 12 months, but as long as Dad stood firm [and] since he was co-owner, the kids could not get the money."

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Dennis had his last visit with his father on Christmas. He observed the pressure that was allegedly being put on his father and the issues he was dealing with regarding his girlfriend. According to Dennis, the dilemma was taking its toll, but his father continued to stand firm and was adamant to keep his girlfriend's apartment.

"We know that about 4 weeks before his death, he took her out of the nursing home for 3 days, (she was so unhappy being confined there) and afterwards he received a severe reprimand," Dennis said. "It's not clear, but it appears that possibly some pressure was put on him, I don't know exactly what. [Then], on the night before his death, he received a phone call from the elder son of his girlfriend. Whatever was said in that call obviously upset him."

Equally important to Dennis, is letting people know about his father and the extraordinary life that he led in the years prior to his death.

"Dad was born in London England and WWII started while he was a school," Dennis said. "He was 13, left school at 14 and worked in a war factory. He often slept in a bomb shelter. After the war he worked as a panel beater, built his own modern spots car from parts as a self test (about 3 years before factory ones were built).

"He immigrated to Australia in 1951. He ended up in Darwin, then a frontier town, where there weren't many non aboriginal women. He lived in a tin shack for some years and built a business. First Panel beating, then car hire cars (still panel beating, but on his own cars) years before there were any hire car companies.

"Our mother, his girlfriend in England arrived and family life began. He raced homemade TQ's (speedway sprint cars) in the dirt where buildings now stand, went crocodile and roo shooting, built himself a speed boat from scratch (first one in Darwin), kept crocodiles in our swimming pool, until one escaped and 3 days later [and] was found waiting at the local primary school.

"Business changed into Caravan sales and then Boats and outboards. There was real estate, flats and investment. This all turned sour when on a hunting trip in a boat, mother died from a shot that clipped her head. Life changed, dad traveled, we had some step-mothers and we ended up spending years apart."

To be continued…

Dennis has promised to share more details on this case in the coming days, including details on the machine his father allegedly used to end his life.

Related Article:
Australian Millionaire, Francis Pete Tovey, Killed by Homemade Suicide Robot

Photo Credit: Freeimages.co.uk

Comments

[Reader]

Thnkas for posting this and getting the truth out there.

[Micheal Jones]

Really Dennis? I didn't get that from Peter at all, in fact when we spoke about G going into the nursing home after her fall he said "Well that happens when you get old". In fact I don't know what other outcome you would have suggested for her. She needed full time care and Peter was not in good enough health to assist her.

Peter was never angry about her going into a nursing home, he may have preferred that she didn't have to be in one, but he was far from upset about it. I think you seem to forget that we had a close relationship with Peter too. He came to every one of the kids birthdays until he became too ill to drive long distances. We then kept in contact by phone, however family politics soon put a strain on that(I am now starting to see the full picture of why that was occuring). However two weeks before he passed Daniella wrote him a lovely letter and included photos of all of us. In fact it's sad that my wife and I have been excluded from the family and told nothing since his death. May I ask why this is?

Micheal