How Australia’s most ‘livable’ city is haunted by a series of unspeakable acts against women

As Australia struggles to come to terms with the killing of a mother and her three children in Brisbane, another Australian city remains traumatised by a series of deaths of young women.

In a city often heralded as the planet’s most livable, 2019 was one of Melbourne’s blackest years for women.  

Courtney Herron’s body was found battered and bruised under logs at Royal Park in May

The body of Natalina Angok, a warehouse packager, was discovered by a tradesman at the intersection of Little Bourke Street and Celestial Avenue

The body of Natalina Angok, a warehouse packager, was discovered by a tradesman at the intersection of Little Bourke Street and Celestial Avenue

Aiia Maasarwe was raped, murdered and set alight in January after getting off a tram in Bundoora

Aiia Maasarwe was raped, murdered and set alight in January after getting off a tram in Bundoora

It was January 16 when Aiia Maasarwe stepped off a Melbourne tram after a night out. 

She could only say seven words to her sister in a telephone call in the moments before she was raped, murdered and set alight. 

Police at the time described her ordeal as a ‘horrendous, horrific attack’.

Victoria Police’s Acting Superintendent for the North West Metro Region, Tony Ryan, said police would be out in force to try to ease community fears about safety following the atrocity. 

Ms Maasarwe had attended a comedy show in North Melbourne, and was a little more than a kilometre from her home when she was attacked. 

The murder sent shivers down the collective spines of women across the city. 

It seemed like only yesterday that Eurydice Dixon was dispatched in a chillingly similar way. 

Eurydice Dixon was murdered in 2018. Her killer, Jaymes Todd, must serve a minimum of 35 years in jail before he can apply for parole

Eurydice Dixon was murdered in 2018. Her killer, Jaymes Todd, must serve a minimum of 35 years in jail before he can apply for parole

It was June 2018 when the comedian and actress had been on her way home from a comedy show. 

She was found murdered at Melbourne’s Princes Park on June 13, 2018. 

As mourners gathered at the site to lay flowers at the place where Ms Maasarwe’s battered body was found, police flooded the area. 

Codey Herrmann, 21, was jailed for 36 years with a non-parole period of 30 years over the crime. 

But before that, there would be more bloodshed on Melbourne’s streets. Much more. 

Only months later the body of Natalina Angok, a warehouse packager, was discovered by a tradesman at the intersection of Little Bourke Street and Celestial Avenue. 

She had fled war torn Sudan for a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to Australia in 2000.

Ms Angojk had hoped to forge a better life in Melbourne, but instead ended up a bloody statistic. 

Christopher Allen Bell has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his partner and aspiring dental nurse.  

He will go on trial at the Supreme Court of Victoria next year. 

Weeks later Melbourne would be stunned again when the body of another young woman was found dead in a park. 

Courtney Herron’s body was found battered and bruised under logs at Royal Park in May. 

Codey Herrmann (left) arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in October. He was jailed for at least 30 years over the murder of Aiia Maasarwe in Melbourne

Codey Herrmann (left) arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in October. He was jailed for at least 30 years over the murder of Aiia Maasarwe in Melbourne

She was just 25. 

Ms Herron had been couch surfing for up to two years before her death.

Like Ms Maasarwe before her, police again described her injuries as ‘horrendous’. 

Henry Richard Hammond, 27, has been charged over her murder. 

In May, a court was told Hammond had a number of issues that would affect him in custody, including ‘a diagnosis of possible delusional disorder, possible autism spectrum disorder and historical diagnosis of ADHD’. 

The Counting Dead Women project claimed Ms Herron’s alleged murder was the 20th woman on their list in 2019.

Police said the crime showed attitudes toward women needed to change.

‘What is it in our community that allows some men to think that it’s still OK to attack women or take from women what they want?’ Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said at the time. 

‘Violence against women is absolutely about men’s behaviour.’

A silent vigil in honour of Dixon’s memory a little over a year earlier had drew more than 10,000 people to Princes Park, among them the Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, who blamed the crime on men’s appalling disrespect toward women. 

But here Melbourne was again, being preached the same sermon over the body of another slain woman. 

Nothing had changed, and the violence would continue. 

In October, a 32-year-old woman was walking a friend’s dog in Thornbury when a man pulled out a knife, pushed her to the ground and sexually assaulted her.

A 21-year-old homeless man was later charged with rape, false imprisonment and theft.

Joel Russo, 25, faces a string of charges including 10 of rape, one of attempted rape and three of sexual assault over an alleged attack along Merri Creek at Coburg

 Joel Russo, 25, faces a string of charges including 10 of rape, one of attempted rape and three of sexual assault over an alleged attack along Merri Creek at Coburg

Community members walk along the Merri Creek trail as part of the 'Reclaim Our Merri Creek' walk on December 8. Joel Russo, 25, faces a string of charges including 10 of rape, one of attempted rape and three of sexual assault over the attack along Merri Creek

Community members walk along the Merri Creek trail as part of the ‘Reclaim Our Merri Creek’ walk on December 8. Joel Russo, 25, faces a string of charges including 10 of rape, one of attempted rape and three of sexual assault over the attack along Merri Creek

Then in December, as Christmas lights and cheer spread across a city seemingly gripped in an endless winter, a woman was raped in ways most media outlets have been afraid to report in full. 

The accused rapist, Joel Russo, 25, faces a string of charges including 10 of rape, one of attempted rape and three of sexual assault over the attack along Merri Creek at Coburg.

Had his alleged victim not survived, her face would have become another memory scarred onto the minds of a city fed-up with the images of dead women. 

The woman, aged in her 20s, had been exercising in parkland beside Merri Creek, just north of the footbridge near Harding Street. 

Russo was arrested several hours after the alleged attack after he allegedly tried to rob a service station on Lygon Street in Carlton. 

Russo allegedly held the woman’s head under water during the assault and tried to strangle her. 

Police claim she had been raped repeatedly, including with a stick.   

Hundreds of Melburnians marched ‘to reclaim our Merri Creek’ following the alleged attack. 

About 400 to 500 people gathered at Mayer park and listened to speeches from women before walking up along the trail to show their solidarity with all those who have survived assaults. 

The rally was organised by a local group of women that gather to run together along the waterway and wanted to take a stand after the assault.

‘We’re a group of local runners and we just enjoy running in our local community. When we heard about the assault we were obviously very upset and shocked,’ rally spokeswoman Olivia Greenwell said.

‘I am conscious of what’s happened around this area but I think there’s been attacks like this all over Melbourne and Australia. There is a big conversation that we need to be having about what causes men’s violence against women.’

It has been a familiar conversation among the law-abiding citizens of Melbourne. 

But as the conversation continued, a man who brutally bashed a female paramedic was being set free by a Melbourne court for the second time. 

On January 29, James Haberfield bashed paramedic Monica Woods after the four-day Rainbow Serpent Festival during which he consumed ‘a cocktail of drugs’ including ecstasy, ice, MDMA and ketamine. 

James Haberfield, 22, believed if he took enough drugs he could 'reach another dimension'.

James Haberfield, 22, believed if he took enough drugs he could ‘reach another dimension’.

Paramedic Monica Woods leaves the County Court of Victoria in December after hearing her attacker believed he could 'reach another dimension' by taking drugs

Paramedic Monica Woods leaves the County Court of Victoria in December after hearing her attacker believed he could ‘reach another dimension’ by taking drugs

The paramedic of nine-and-a-half years told County Court of Victoria Judge Michael Tinney this month she had not returned to work since the attack and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. 

Ms Woods said she was ‘constantly feeling choked’ and suffered ongoing ‘distressing flashbacks’.

‘I have lost all of my independence due to this assault,’ she wept.

Ms Woods said she feared for her life during the attack and continued to re-live it day after day. 

However he attacker avoided a minimum six-month jail term when Judge Tinney sided with an earlier decision to cut Haberfield loose on a treatment plan within the community. 

He avoided jail after a psychiatrist who had previously assessed him made an 11th-hour assessment that he believed Haberfield’s attack was due to an unknown pre-existing mental illness.

Outside court, Ms Woods made a familiar point. 

‘Violence against anyone is unacceptable. Violence against paramedics, other emergency workers and other health professionals is never okay,’ she said.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

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