Every day for the past 30 years, Samantha Mischewski has struggled with permanent injuries inflicted when her father threw her against a wall as a baby.
Adding to her pain is knowing that man, John Raymond Holschier, is now walking free after a judge ruled he no longer needed supervision despite a shocking rap sheet.
Holschier killed his wife Betina Givorshner, 22, inside their family home on Sydney’s north shore in September 1989, before throwing their 13-month-old daughter against a wall.
Samantha, 30, has never spoken about the horrific crime until now, and says she is appalled at a NSW Supreme Court decision last week to allow Holschier, 51, to live without supervision.
‘We’re just waiting for him to die. We’re just waiting for him to not be here,’ Samantha told Daily Mail Australia.
John Raymond Holschier (pictured), 51, is a free man walking the streets of Sydney almost 30 years after he bashed his wife to death with a brick and threw his 13-month-old daughter into a wall – leaving her with permanent brain issues and disabilities
Samantha Mischewski (pictured) was thrown against a wall when she was a 13-month-old baby by Holschier, her father. Speaking for the first time this week she told Daily Mail Australia she is counting down the days until he dies
‘Obviously we wish he could’ve died in jail, but we kind of always knew that eventually it was going to come down to him having his parole restrictions taken off.
‘It’s not ideal, but you know what, it could be a blessing in disguise. He hasn’t had freedom in 30 years so I feel like it might only be a matter of time before he stuffs up and goes back (to prison) again.’
We wish he could’ve died in jail
Samantha Mischewster, daughter
However, despite a judge admitting Holschier potentially still poses a ‘severe’ risk to the community, the NSW Supreme Court last week rejected an application to keep him under watch.
This means Holschier is free to live in a taxpayer-funded housing commission home in a quiet Sydney street, next door to young families – just like the one he destroyed.
When asked if he was now a changed man, Holschier told Daily Mail Australia: ‘Yeah, of course I am.’
Samantha still suffers the effects of her father’s cruelty every day, even 30 years after the horrific crime.
‘I had a damaged frontal lobe in my brain, so I don’t have any peripheral vision and my balance is really poor,’ she said.
‘It’s probably affected me more as I’ve gotten older, I mean I can’t drive at night because my vision is so bad that it is dangerous.
Holschier was first released from prison in 2008, but ended up back behind bars after breaching his parole conditions on a number of occasions. Earlier this month the NSW Supreme Court ruled he no longer needed to be supervised
On September 25, 1989, Holschier murdered his wife Betina Givorshner (left, holding her daughter Samantha) before turning on his little girl and throwing her against a wall. Holschier spent almost 20 years in prison for his cruel crime, but is now a free man
‘After he bashed my mother he threw me against a wall and called my grandfather to claim that someone had broken into the house… he tried to make out he hadn’t done it,’ she said.
‘He then went and washed the blood off me, and it wasn’t until police arrived that the officer who was holding me said: “Something is not right with this baby”.’
He’s just my sperm donor… we don’t even call him by his first name
Samantha Mischewster, daughter
But it wasn’t only physically that she suffered.
Growing up without parents meant her and her sister lived with their grandparents until they were sent to boarding school as teenagers.
Samantha, whose son will turn two on Friday, says she has never regarded Holschier as her father – he is just the man who left her an orphan.
‘He’s just my sperm donor… we don’t even call him by his first name,’ she said.
‘I went through a bit of a stage when I was about 21 where I wanted to know where I came from, I wanted to meet the man who killed my mother.
‘My family knew I was doing it but they were totally against it. They said: “We know the man that did this, he really hurt our family”… so they didn’t understand.
When approached at his housing commission home and asked if he was a changed man, Holschier said: ‘Yeah, of course I am’
The 51-year-old is now living in a quiet western Sydney neighbourhood and was seen on Wednesday walking to catch the bus. Long-time residents of the street were shocked to discover a killer was amongst them, with one man saying: ‘I don’t want him in the street, end of story’
When Samantha was 21 she went to Junee prison to meet her father. She said she quickly realised Holschier (pictured) was ‘a bad man’
‘So I went with a friend down to Junee jail and met him. I had this idea in my head that I wanted a relationship with him, but he is just a bad man so that didn’t really go anywhere thankfully.’
Holschier was released from prison not long after that visit, but ended up back behind bars for breaching his strict parole conditions.
Between his first release in 2008 and his most recent in 2016, Holschier returned to prison seven times.
Court documents revealed the killer was first sent back for contacting two of his other children, who he claimed to have fathered while in custody, despite being banned from seeing them.
He was released again in 2010 but just a few months later was back behind bars after threatening to slit his mother’s throat and ‘burn her house down’.
A spate of other minor offences over the years that followed kept Holschier locked up, until he was released under three-year Extended Supervision Order (ESO) in 2016.
But even then, Holschier continued to cause trouble.
In January 2016 he assaulted his ex-wife by throwing a TV remote at her head and was sent back to jail, before later that year he called and texted the same woman – contravening an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO).
As part of his ESO conditions Holschier was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, but breached this section of the order by allowing the bracelet to go flat.
When the initial supervision period ended this January, the State was forced to apply for another order and did so for a period of 12 months.
But Justice Campbell told the court: ‘I am not satisfied… there is a real or substantial chance of Mr Holschier committing a further serious violence offence if he is not kept under supervision’.
Long-time residents of the quiet Sydney street where Holschier is now living were shocked to this week discover a killer was amongst their midst.
One man, who has lived on the street for more than 20 years, said he would be doing anything in his power to get him removed.
‘I don’t want him in the street, end of story,’ the neighbour, who did not want to be named, said.
‘We had an ex-convict living in there before, but I can’t believe we’ve now got someone who is even worse.
Since he was first released on parole in 2008, Holschier has ended up back behind bars on no less than seven occasions. One of his breaches involved having contact with his second wife and two of their children (Holschier is pictured with them)
Samantha said that while Holschier took so much away from her, his cruel crime made her determined to provide a better life for her children. She says she feels ‘really happy’ about the home and family she has for her
‘My next door neighbours are having a baby so it has alarmed them even more, especially when there are going to be days where the mum is home alone with her baby.’
In a statement, NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman said he was ‘exploring all available options’, including appealing the Supreme Court’s decision.
But Samantha says while Holschier’s crime against her took away so much, it also left her determined to ensure her children would have the ‘normal’ life she never had.
‘All I ever wanted to was to be a mum and to give my son what my sister and I didn’t have,’ she said.
‘It’s really important that I’m there for him in the way my mother never had a chance to be.
‘So far we’ve given him a really good life and I feel really happy about that,’ she said.