{"id":336214,"date":"2026-05-17T15:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T10:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=336214"},"modified":"2026-05-17T15:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T10:10:19","slug":"tributes-paid-to-father-of-two-killed-by-shark-in-front-of-friends-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/tributes-paid-to-father-of-two-killed-by-shark-in-front-of-friends-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes paid to father-of-two killed by shark in front of friends | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Steven Mattaboni\u2019s wife has said he was a \u2018devoted father\u2019 (Picture: Social Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A father of two was killed off the coast of Perth yesterday morning while spearfishing with friends.<\/p>\n

Steven Mattaboni, 38, was off the coast of Rottnest Island, near Horseshoe Reef, when a shark bit him on his lower leg. <\/p>\n

The beloved father and husband suffered \u2018horrific\u2019 injuries before his friends managed to drag him back onto the boat and rush back to shore.<\/p>\n

Despite performing CPR on the way in which back and meeting police and paramedics, Mattaboni couldn\u2019t be saved.<\/p>\n

Mattaboni\u2019s wife, Shirene, has since paid tribute to her husband and said the family\u2019s hearts are \u2018broken\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Steven was a faithful father to our two beautiful daughters \u2014 one who turns three next month and our four-month-old baby,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

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Mattaboni leaves behind his wife and two young daughters (Picture: Social Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018An avid fisherman and spearfisherman, who lived and breathed the ocean, he was at all times in tune with the ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018He was fiercely loyal, endlessly generous, and the sort of man who would provide you with the shirt off his back. <\/p>\n

\u2018The world has lost a very one-of-a-kind gentleman, and our daughters have lost an incredible father far too soon,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

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Beaches near Rottnest Island have remained open (PIcture: AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018We extend our deepest, most sincere gratitude to the emergency services and first responders who worked so tirelessly to avoid wasting him.\u2019<\/p>\n

Western Australia Police Minister Reece Whitby said in an announcement: \u2018I would like to acknowledge the diver\u2019s friends who played a critical role in doing the most effective they may to bring [him] back to shore.<\/p>\n

\u2018My heart and thoughts exit to the person\u2019s family, friends and family members. He loved the ocean and loved diving, and it’s just incredibly tragic.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Man dies after shark attacks him in front of a friend in Australia<\/span><\/p>\n

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Arrow<\/title>\n<\/use><\/svg>MORE: Australia scraps plans for a Trump Tower because his brand is simply too toxic<\/span><\/p>\n

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Steven Mattaboni\u2019s wife has said he was a \u2018devoted father\u2019 (Picture: Social Media) A father of two was killed off the coast of Perth yesterday morning while spearfishing with friends. Steven Mattaboni, 38, was off the coast of Rottnest Island, near Horseshoe Reef, when a shark bit him on his lower leg. The beloved father […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[51829,517,4488,3026,395,6168,5304,5331,813],"class_list":["post-336214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-fatheroftwo","tag-friends","tag-front","tag-killed","tag-news","tag-paid","tag-shark","tag-tributes","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336217,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336214\/revisions\/336217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}