Gunnedah NSW: Devastated family’s fury at day release for their daughter’s teenage killer 

The heartbroken mother of a little girl who was so brutally butchered a judge banned details from being published says her teenage killer is being given day release just three years later.

A girl, then 14, killed the 10-year-old in Gunnedah, north-west NSW, in July, 2020, telling her, ‘don’t worry, darling – I’ll make it all go away’ moments before attacking her in cold blood at a farmhouse.

The NSW Supreme Court found the mentally-ill teenager, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was not criminally responsible for the killing in November, 2021.

Graphic details of the attack were so gruesome the judge banned media outlets from revealing them for the next 20 years.

But the court also ordered the victim could never be identified, named or pictured either, adding to the devastated family’s agony – who say their daughter has been left faceless and nameless.

The killer, now aged 17, is reportedly set for day release from her secure psychiatric unit in preparation for a possible permanent release back into society.

‘It’s utterly devastating,’ the victim’s anguished mother admitted. ‘The system is so messed up. There’s no justice to be had.

The farming community of Gunnedah in north-western NSW was shocked by the incident

‘When it’s your own child and the horrific nature of the crime and less then three years later… day release? 

‘It’s devastating to think that’s all my daughter’s life was worth.’

In the weeks leading up to the deadly attack, the twisted killer tried to tell her parents she ‘thought about killing people all the time’.

In texts the night before the killing, revealed in court documents, she admitted to her friend: ‘I’m not okay. I can’t do it any more. I think I’m going crazy.

‘I don’t know what to do. I seriously can’t take it any longer. I’m not talking to my parents – they are the cause of it.

‘Something bad is going to happen and it’s going to be irreversible.’

Court documents revealed the day before the killing, the teen boasted to a school friend that she had been standing over her sleeping parents holding a ‘big a** knife’, ready to stab her father to death.

The former animal lover had previously began killing and mutilating chickens every day, using knives she had been collecting and nicknaming each one.

In chilling late night messages to the friend, the teen – a former star pupil at school – warned she was on a mission to kill, but was frustrated that no-one believed her. 

Her friend begged the soon-to-be killer not to follow through on the threats – but she refused, saying: ‘I don’t like to lie about promises and won’t make them if I don’t mean them.

‘I want to kill dad, torture mum and stab [my sister] countless times then sprawl their corpse out onto the kitchen table.’

She added: ‘Sorry, I have to go,’ according to the court documents.

The following morning, between 6.30am and 7am, the teenager armed herself with a tomahawk she had nicknamed Tommy, which her father had given her two weeks earlier.

She then tracked down her 10-year-old victim and killed her before dragging the body to her 12-year-old sister’s room. The teen then put on a backpack and walked out of the house.

A teenager who was 14 when she killed a 10-year-old girl says she was spurred on by voices inside her head (pictured, footage of an interview held hours later at Gunnedah Police Station)

Just a few hours after these menacing texts, the teenager killed her 10-year-old victim

A psychiatric report later found the girl was suffering from untreated schizophrenia which included auditory hallucinations coaxing her to kill, and delusions her life and experiences were not real.

A short no-jury trial, overseen by Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson, found the girl was suffering from severe mental illness and had difficulty separating ‘dreams from reality’.

The teenager was ordered to remain in detention under supervision, with her condition reviewed by the Mental Health Tribunal until deemed fit for release.

Now the victim’s family say they have been told their daughter’s killer is ‘being granted day leave and will probably be out in the next couple of years’.

In a series of posts on Reddit, which have since been deleted, the girl’s mother unleashed her anger at the system which she said had made her daughter ‘invisible’.

‘Less then three years rehabilitation is not enough for taking a child’s life,’ she wrote. 

‘It’s so unjust and is causing us so much further distress to think that’s all our daughter’s life is worth. 

‘I can’t bring my 10 year old daughter back to life, my life has been ruined. My family’s life has been ruined.

‘I can’t even show a picture of her face or use her name. She’s been made invisible by the legal system.’

The publishing restrictions imposed on the case are among the strictest ever seen in Australia, admitted one legal expert.

Aside from the normal ban on naming the under-age killer, the judge also banned details of the victim’s identity, injuries and connection to her killer from being revealed for 20 years.

‘I’m not allowed to even use my daughter’s picture or name to tell her story,’ said the mother. ‘By law all youths who commit crimes have their identities protected. 

‘But my daughter who is the victim has a 20-year suppression on her name and image being made public.

‘This is not usual and further victimises her, because her story cannot be told in a way that identifies her. 

When the teenager was younger, and loved her snake, three cats, three dogs and fish, there were no sign of the horrors in her tormented mind (pictured, police at the scene of the killing)

The killer used her knives to start butchering the family’s chickens, confessing to her father that she had taken a skewer to one of them ‘as she wanted to see what was inside’ (pictured, police search a paddock near the scene of the killing)

The victim’s mother unleashed her fury and frustration at the legal system in a series of posts on Reddit which were later deleted (pictured)

‘I feel like there’s no justice for my daughter and us as the family victims. Only endless support for [the killer’s] treatment and “rehabilitation”.

‘The system gives most of its resources to perpetrators and the support victims get is ridiculously insulting in comparison.’

She said the family had been denied any input into the decision on releasing the killer back into the community. 

‘It’s completely in the hands of the mental health tribunal,’ she said. ‘We have no power and no say. 

‘I think given the horrific, serious nature of her act in murdering my daughter, less than three years for rehabilitation and treatment is not enough to be allowed to access the community.

‘The fact she’ll likely be living in the community in another couple of years is deeply distressing to us, her family victims. 

‘She’s granted these rights and the right my murdered daughter has to be visible and named in the telling of her story has been taken away for 20 years!’

She said the pain of losing her daughter had not eased in the three years since the horrific attack. 

‘There’s no healthy way to look at anything when your daughter has been horrifically murdered,’ she said.

‘Please tell me what way I can twist this horrific experience into something positive?

‘We have been devastated by what happened and devastated at the news of day release so short after. 

‘That’s all my daughter’s life seems worth in the legal system.’

NSW Youth Justice said it was ‘inappropriate’ to comment on the case.

If this story has raised issues with you, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 

THE TORMENTED TEEN’S PLAN TO MASSACRE HER ENTIRE FAMILY

Detectives found the teenager’s diary which spelt out a shocking plot to wipe out her entire family in a carefully planned, bloodthirsty massacre.

‘I’m getting sick and tired of being told I am a liar when I say I see cat’s eyes in a dark room and feel like I am going to kill someone,’ she wrote.

‘Well, I’ve been planning it for a long time so now I’m going to do something stupid and write down my plan on what I’ll do for my serial murders.

‘I’m first of all going to kill my family first – don’t want no people dobbing on me.

‘First I’ll kill dad by slitting his throat. He may not die as quick and he’s the only person I’m reluctant to kill.

‘Dad isn’t a bad person. He is a boy and I only hate girls but of course I can’t kill mum and leave dad because he is stronger than me – I’ll be screwed.

‘I’ll then kill mum. By no visions in my mind, they won’t wake up with me simply coming into their bedroom (their floorboards are loud as).

‘I’ll kill her by stabbing her in the back and slicing her throat.

‘But the fun only starts when I get to my sister. She could be awake from the racket but I’ll grab the baseball bat and slam it in her face over and over until that stupid brat is dead. 

‘Of course I’ll only do that for the sheer fun of getting them dead until I have a little fun cutting their stomachs open and pulling their eyes out before dismembering them and hanging their corpses on the table and light.

The teenager, now aged 15, killed the 10-year-old (pictured) at a farmhouse in Gunnedah, northern NSW, on July 8, 2020 

‘I’ll leave dad in bed or wherever I killed them.

‘I don’t know why I’m doing this but whenever I’m being b***hed at I can’t help but want to kill them.

‘I don’t doubt my life will be nothing but running away but also there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

‘It’s pitch black.

‘I’ve never been able to picture myself with a family of my own, a house I can call home, a job to work for a living or just simply to have someone who likes me for who I am.

‘I love anyone.

‘I’m just tired of feeling nothing is real. It’s as if everything is on repeat and nothing is changing except my underlying desire to rip someone’s organs out.

‘I’ve only mutilated small animals so far but just imagine how nice it’s gonna feel when I do it to a human.

‘I had a really good dream on [July] 4th about killing someone and I just got some encouragement from that dream about what I’m going to do.’