THEY WERE AN UNUSUAL COUPLE..! – HELENA WRIGHT’S FRIENDS AND CHURCH ELDERS REVEAL HEARTBREAKING DETAILS ABOUT HER SECRET PAIN, HER BREAK FROM ORGANISED RELIGION AND HER GROWING ANTI-AUTHORITY BELIEFS BEFORE SHE STEPPED OFF A CLIFF WITH HER BABIES.
The deeply religious young mother who jumped from a South Australian cliff with her two children was suffering from debilitating migraines and exhaustion, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Helena Wright, 36, leapt to her death with her toddler daughter and infant son at Cape Northumberland in South Australia’s south-east on July 27.
A friend confirmed to the Daily Mail this week that Ms Wright had been battling the agonising condition – characterised by throbbing head pain, nausea and sensitivity to light – as well as extreme fatigue before the tragedy.
Ms Wright had pleaded for help at Mt Gambier police station the day before, and was reportedly told to go home to her husband Brad and come back on Monday.
The Mail has seen various accounts on social media of why she specifically sought help from police, but has so far been unable to verify them.
At 11.15am on Monday, the body of the Estonian-born Australian was found floating in the rough seas off Australia’s most southern point, 6km west of Port Macdonnell.
The body of her 23-month-old daughter Hazel was found in the ocean nearby, while her three-month-old son Lewis has not been found.
Police are treating the tragedy as a murder-suicide.
+9
View gallery
A friend of Brad and Helena Wright said the young mother had been suffering from debilitating migraines and exhaustion before taking her own life and killing her two young children
+9
View gallery
The couple, who married in Mt Gambier Presbyterian Church, were ‘deeply religious’
Mystery continues to surround why exactly Ms Wright turned up at the police station, with police again refusing to comment when approached by the Mail this week.
The friend who confirmed Ms Wright’s health issues said she did not know why she would have gone to the police.
‘I do know she has struggled with headaches and being tired,’ the friend said.
‘Just normal [things for mums]. What mother isn’t tired with two [kids] under two?’
Locals told the Daily Mail the couple appeared to ‘church-hop’ through the final few years of Ms Wright’s life before settling on a ‘home church’ arrangement independent of organised religion.
A GoFundMe launched by a family friend said Ms Wright had ‘stepped from a cliff with her beautiful babies in her arms, into the arms of her waiting savior [sic]’.
The Wrights had been among the younger members of the 100-strong Mt Gambier Presbyterian Church congregation, and were married there in a ‘low-key wedding’ in 2023 by Pastor Gary Ware.
But church elders Graeme Hamilton and Roger Bannister told the Daily Mail that they left under mysterious circumstances not long after their wedding.
‘They were [members of the congregation] at one time but haven’t been for several years. We were very disappointed when they left,’ confirmed Mr Hamilton.
Mr Bannister described the Wrights as ‘an unusual couple in a lot of ways’.
+9
View gallery
Mr Wright’s father Ian declined to comment when contacted by the Daily Mail
The Wrights left the Mt Gambier Presbyterian Church ‘suddenly’ after their wedding
+9
View gallery
Church elder Roger Bannister said the ‘unusual’ couple held anti-authority beliefs
Read More
EXCLUSIVE
Neighbour of ‘troubled’ mum Helena Wright reveals final encounter with her husband: ‘He adored her’
‘She seemed quite sociable and keen to meet people – the older ladies at the church particularly embraced her,’ he said.
He said that despite her Estonian background, she did not have a European-sounding accent, while Brad was more ‘staid and serious’.
Mr Bannister was surprised when the couple abruptly left the church, but suspected it was linked to ‘anti-authority’ beliefs sparked by living in Victoria during Covid lockdowns.
‘They’d had a rough time with the lockdowns and ended up being locked up in a motel and not able to go out,’ he said.
‘That was pretty authoritative for a young couple, and they didn’t enjoy that authority – that came across loud and clear.’
Mr Bannister believed the couple were ‘new Christians’, and may have felt the Presbyterian church was too strict for them.
‘I was surprised when they stepped away, and it made me wonder if we had maybe been a bit too authoritative for them,’ he said.
The Daily Mail has previously reported that the Wrights had often ‘liked’ posts opposing lockdowns and Covid vaccinations.
+9
View gallery
A church pastor confirmed the couple had been involved in a ‘home church’ arrangement
+9
View gallery
Helena was described as extremely social, while her husband was more ‘staid and serious’
Mr Hamilton said he didn’t want to speculate on why Ms Wright had leapt to her death with her babies, adding: ‘That is between her and the Lord.’
A neighbour told the Daily Mail that the couple attended a Sunday service every weekend, and Mr Hamilton said he believed they had sought spiritual guidance elsewhere.
‘I believe they moved on to a different church,’ he added.
‘But when people leave, we don’t get them to fill out a questionnaire as to why, and their reasons if they give us one are confidential.
‘I think they were only with us for a year, but I remember them being lovely people.’
Mr Hamilton said Mr Wright’s family were not members of the church.
‘I may have met his parents once or twice but I can’t put a face to the name,’ he said.
Mr Bannister said there was no sign of mental health issues with Ms Wright while a member of the Presbyterian Church, three years before her apparent murder-suicide.
+9
View gallery
Church elder Graeme Hamilton described the Wrights as ‘a lovely couple’
+9
View gallery
Emergency services called off the search for baby Lewis’ remains last week
‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ he said.
‘They were a lovely couple, and in the time they were with us, they made themselves right at home. Helena, in particular, slotted right in.’
The Wrights’ religious movements can be traced through at least two more local churches before settling on a less traditional method of worship.
A leader of the more youth-focused Liberty Church said they may have attended ‘a couple of times’ but confirmed they were not official members of that community.
Pastor Robert Cotton, leader of The Open Door Baptist Church, also confirmed the couple joined his congregation around the time Hazel was born.
But he said they left a year ago, around the time Ms Wright fell pregnant with Lewis.
Pastor Cotton said the couple then joined a ‘home church’, adding that describing exactly what that meant was a ‘good question’.
It is understood the Wrights began gathering with like-minded people in the Mt Gambier community who shared their Christian beliefs but did not want to belong to a particular organisation.
Mr Wright is believed to be receiving support from his family at their home on the outskirts of Mt Gambier and has yet to comment on the tragedy.
His father Ian declined to comment to the Daily Mail on why his daughter-in-law had attended the local police station the day before she and her children died.
+9
View gallery
Helena leapt to her death with her children at Cape Northumberland on July 27
A neighbour who lived near the Wrights at their home in nearby Compton said she spoke to Brad, an electrician, when he left for work, just hours before his wife and daughter were found dead below Cape Northumberland.
She saw police perform a welfare check at their home, but it was empty and Ms Wright’s car was missing. It was later found, with the engine still running, near the clifftop where she died.
‘She was obviously troubled and obviously depressed,’ she said.
The neighbour vehemently rejected the unfounded online speculation about the tragedy.
‘It’s very disappointing what people are saying,’ she wept. ‘It’s absolutely horrendous. They are very private people.
‘Hazel was the most beautiful little girl. Brad was a tremendous father who adored his wife.’
Police investigations are continuing, with a report to be prepared for the coroner.
