MH17 verdict: Victims honoured as murder trial result nears

On July 17, 2014, the Toowoomba couple were on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, when it was shot down over Ukraine by what prosecutors say was a Russian surface to air missile.

The downing of the plane killed all 298 passengers and crew, including 38 Australian citizens and residents.

The flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was taking the husband and wife back to Australia, after their dream holiday and cruise in central Europe.

On Thursday, November 17, their son Paul and daughter Amanda, along with their extended family, will be in the Netherlands for the murder trial verdict of four suspects in the downing of MH17.

As Paul prepared to fly to the Netherlands, he told ACM he was frustrated and disappointed, that the war was not only dragging on, but had gotten worse since his parents were killed.

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"I am horrified by the loss of life and complete destruction of people's lives that's been continuing to occur in Ukraine," he said.

"I've always blamed the war overall for the tragedy."

The Guard family has been closely following the murder trial since it commenced in March 2020.

"[It's] a useful way for people to find out exactly what did occur, and hopefully give people who were involved some sort of pause for thought about what they've done, and what they're getting themselves into when they think about getting involved in these sorts of wars," Paul said.

In the days after Jill and Roger Guard died, thousands of people filled Toowoomba's Empire Theatre to celebrate the lives of the couple.

They were held in high regard in their community, where Mr Guard had been a long-serving director of pathology at Toowoomba Hospital and Mrs Guard had worked as a GP.

They were parents to Paul, 44, Amanda, 42 and David, 39, and while they only had two grandchildren when they died, they now have seven.

"They were very loving, and generous and kind people. They were wonderful parents to us and gave us everything we could have ever needed," Paul said.

Their eldest son recalls not only were his parents well known in the medical community, his mother volunteered her time to Meals on Wheels and a local refugee group.

Mr Guard also loved to run, and run far.

"Dad was president of the Toowoomba Road Runners for many years, and also did a lot of race organisation and lots of long distance running, mainly ultra marathons," Paul said.

Mr Guard was a naturalist and proudly owned every copy of National Geographic that had been published since 1888.

He was a keen bird watcher and bred butterflies for many years. His collections of butterflies and moths have since been donated to Queensland Museum.

As a family the Guards loved to travel - Hawaii, Alaska and Europe, you name it, they went there.

The MH17 downing changed their family forever, it has meant major milestones have been missed and when Paul and his wife Jessie had a stillborn son in 2018 it was his parents' support he yearned for.

"You do miss your parents more if you don't have that support network around you when you do go through tough times," he said.

As families and communities continue to be ripped apart by Russia's attacks on Ukraine, Paul pleads for an end to the conflict.

"What's happened ever since 2014 with people choosing to shoot guns and drop bombs, instead of talking about differences and trying to find peaceful solutions, it's obviously all very counterproductive and very stupid," he said.

"I'm very upset that this is still happening and that there's not really any end in sight either.

"I would urge everyone involved, including the leaders of the European countries and Ukraine and Russia, to find a way to solve this because the longer it drags on the more people that are suffering. The last thing we need is more people like my family who have been pulled apart by this horrible war."

While he believes a regime change in Russia would bring a brighter future, he is not hopeful it will happen.

"Every citizen of every country needs to be aware of what governments do in their name," he said.

The Dutch court handling the murder trial of four suspects in the downing of MH17 will hand down its verdict on November 17.

Judges will begin reading the verdict at 1.30pm on Thursday (11.30pm AEDT) at the high-security court next to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.