The little boy lost

This heart-rending statement was made by Alexander Soares and his half-sister Katherine Weston after their brother Nicolau Saores was acquitted of the double murder of their and stepfather on the grounds of insanity.

We love and support our brother Nic.

We understand that what has happened is a direct result of, one, his untreated mental illness and, two, the failures of the West Australian mental health system.

We were the ones who lived with Nic. We were the ones who knew his traumatic childhood. We were the ones who first observed him

becoming unwell.

OUR PARENTS' PLEA FOR HELP IGNORED

We were the ones who cared for him and monitored his health on a daily basis.

We were the ones who watched his health slip away. His paranoia and delusions come to utterly dominate him.

We were the ones who knew his symptoms intimately and what triggered his psychotic episodes.

We were the experts, we remain the experts.

We knew how vulnerable he was, that his condition was so severe that he could not be trusted to take his medication. That he in fact believed it was poison. That he in fact was not taking it.

We were the ones who pleaded with Nic’s treating team for an increased level of care.

Despite our parents’ unwavering love for our brother and absolute resolve to getting him help, we were ignored and cut out of his

treatment.

How could this have happened?

What a tragedy — that it ultimately cost the lives of two remarkable Australians, two loving parents, to begin to get their son the help they knew he needed since many, many years ago.''

Katherine Weston and Alexander Soares after yesterday's verdict.