A father of two who “lived and breathed the ocean” was killed by a massive shark while spearfishing with friends off Western Australia’s coast, leaving a tight-knit community shattered and his young family without its patriarch.
Steven “Mattas” Mattaboni, 38, was about 1 kilometer offshore at Horseshoe Reef, northwest of Rottnest Island near Perth, when a large shark attacked him around 10 a.m. local time on Saturday, May 17, 2026. He had been swimming with three friends and was roughly 20 meters from his boat when the predator struck, biting him on the lower leg.
His friends hauled him aboard, performed CPR as they raced toward Geordie Bay Jetty, and called 000. Despite a frantic, all-hands response from paramedics, police, the island’s nursing staff and a vacationing trauma doctor from Melbourne, Mattaboni could not be revived.
A Father’s Final Dive
Mattaboni lived in Perth’s northern suburbs and served as secretary of the spearfishing club Bluewater Freedivers of Western Australia. To his wife, Shirene, and their two young daughters — one who turns three next month and a four-month-old baby — he was simply the heart of the household.
In a statement issued through her family, Shirene Mattaboni said her husband was an “avid fisherman” who “lived and breathed the ocean,” describing him as fiercely loyal and endlessly generous. She said the family’s “hearts are irrevocably broken.”
“The world has lost a truly one-of-a-kind gentleman, and our daughters have lost an incredible father far too soon,” she said in tributes shared publicly.
Beyond the ocean, Mattaboni was a premiership player with Kingsley Amateur Football Club, which mourned him as a “much loved friend to many.” In an online post, the club called him “one of the most genuine people you could meet,” saying his smile and presence “could light up a room.”
Witnesses to a Horrific Attack
Sergeant Michael Wear, the officer in charge at Rottnest Island, said Mattaboni’s friends saw the shark surface and acted within seconds. They pulled him onto the boat, began first aid, and made for the nearest jetty as fast as the engines would allow.
“So the guys went over to him and had seen the shark, and were able to pull Steven on board and started their own sort of first aid treatment,” Wear told a Perth radio station. He said the responders knew from the moment they reached the jetty that the injuries were catastrophic.
A police air wing dropped an officer onto the shore from a helicopter that landed on a nearby road. Medical staff from the island’s nursing post, rangers and the visiting Melbourne trauma doctor converged on the jetty in a desperate, coordinated push to save him. Paramedics and police continued CPR. None of it was enough.
Western Australia’s police minister, Reece Whitby, paid tribute to the divers and first responders, acknowledging that Mattaboni’s friends “played a critical role” and had witnessed “a very confronting, disturbing and tragic scene.”
Authorities Investigate, Beaches Remain Open
The WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development confirmed it had received a report of a man bitten by a shark. Surf Life Saving WA reported a white shark approximately 4 to 5 meters long spotted in the area around the time of the attack. A patrol vessel has been monitoring the area, and authorities have urged additional caution around Horseshoe Reef and nearby waters.
Despite the fatal encounter, beaches on Rottnest Island — a protected nature reserve and one of the state’s most popular tourist destinations — have remained open. Authorities are advising beachgoers to monitor shark warnings and exercise caution. WA Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
Graham Henderson, president of the Australian Underwater Federation, said he was devastated by the news and extended sympathies to the diver’s family and club. He acknowledged the inherent dangers of the sport while noting the precautions taken at organized events — safety boats, drones to spot sharks — measures rarely available to recreational divers.
“But of course when people are doing it recreationally… that is probably when they are most vulnerable,” Henderson said.
A Grim Year for Australian Waters
The attack adds to a troubling pattern in Australian waters this year. In January, four people were bitten in a vicious rampage near Sydney in the space of just 48 hours, including 12-year-old Nico Antic, who was attacked on January 18, 2026.
For now, the focus in Perth is on the family Mattaboni leaves behind — two little girls, a wife in mourning, a football club in shock and a spearfishing community confronting the worst-case version of a risk its members have long accepted. Friends and former teammates have begun gathering in tribute, sharing stories of the man they knew as Mattas.
“He had a smile and presence that could light up a room,” his club wrote, “and he will be remembered fondly by all who had the privilege of knowing him.”