The family of a single mum battered to death with a claw hammer after her evil killer hid under her daughter’s bed is begging for the murderer to be kept behind bars.
Perth mother-of-two Deborah Boyd was beaten to death in a pre-planned attack by ex-boyfriend Wayne Valenta in July 2000, six months after meeting him.
He pled guilty to the savage killing and was sentenced to life in jail, but 21 years later, he is about to be released into a re-socialisation program to prepare him for parole.
Now Deborah’s terrified daughter Melissa Whitten fears he will kill again as he attacked three others before killing her mother.
‘Valenta’s decision to murder my mother wasn’t made on the spur of the moment,’ Ms Whitten said. ‘He was cold and calculated.
‘Now I’m scared for every woman in Australia.’
The family of single mum Deborah Boyd (pictured), battered to death with a claw hammer after her evil killer hid under her daughter’s bed, is begging for the murderer to be kept behind bars
‘He planned the entire crime meticulously, and he also planned to get away with it. He wore gloves and disposed of the hammer and bloodied clothing.’
‘This is not about me. It’s not about my family either. Sure, I worry for my safety. I really worry my grandmother’s safety.
‘But who I am really scared for is the next woman who Valenta has a relationship with, just like my mum.’
Valenta, now 53, sneaked into the Boyds’ home and hid for three hours under teenage Melissa’s bed while he waited for Deborah, 38, to come down for breakfast.
When she appeared, he leaped out and beat her to death with the claw hammer.
Terrified daughter Melissa Boyd (pictured) fears Wayne Valenta will kill again after it was revealed he had struck three times before her mother died
Melissa, 36, revealed: ‘In a confession Valenta made to one of his family (who worked with police to secretly record him), he said: “That’s when I donged her.
‘”Bang. Bang. Bang. And she fell, and when she hit the ground, I went bang, bang for good measure”.’
Three days before the attack, Valenta bragged to a workmate: ‘How does it feel to know you are going to know a murderer?’
He showed the workmate the claw hammer and added: ‘How many times do you reckon it would take to kill her if I smashed her in the head with it?’
Ms Whitten has now started a petition to demand Western Australian Attorney General John Quigley block Valenta’s release before he murderers someone else.
‘I have not been provided with any proof that Valenta is no longer a risk to women, and that there is no longer a risk of doing what he did to my mother again,’ she said.
‘We need to make sure the attorney general understands if Valenta is released, he will be accountable if any woman in our community is hurt.’
Wayne Valenta, now 53, (pictured) sneaked into the Boyds’ home and hid for three hours under teenage Melissa’s bed while he waited for Deborah, 38, to come down for breakfast
Valenta served time in jail for stabbing a previous partner with a pen before meeting Ms Boyd, as well as two other previous attacks.
‘We had no idea about any of this. No one told my mother,’ Ms Whitten said.
‘Our family thought butter wouldn’t melt in Valenta’s mouth when he was first welcomed into our family, but once he moved in, he couldn’t hide his violent and abusive ways.
‘My mother was extremely strong-willed, and she wouldn’t cop it. She told Valenta he had to leave. Then the stalking began.’
The harassment became so bad, Deborah took out a restraining order against him, but that didn’t stop his terrifying obsession.
Melissa Whitten, pictured here with mother Deborah Boyd, has started a petition to stop the killer being released ahead of winning parole
‘When he chased my mother’s car down, spitting on it, the police helped us take a restraining order out against him,’ Ms Whitten said.
‘That didn’t stop Valenta breaking into our home to watch us sleep.
‘Just two weeks before he murdered my mother, he admitted to breaking into our home at night and standing over my mother while she slept, wearing rubber gloves, while he thought about strangling her.’
Deborah’s mother Carl Pettifor told A Current Affair: ‘They’re living in a dream if they think this man is going to change.
‘If you did that over a 10 year period to three different women and then it culminated in murdering my daughter, do you think that person can change?
‘He’s a real dangerous person. I’m convinced if he gets out of jail and he forms another relationship with another woman, he will lash out.
‘It’s his persona, it’s in him. He’s a psychopath.’
Melissa added: ‘After he killed my mother, he told an undercover police officer: “It felt like f**king 20 tonnes just fell off my f***ing shoulders”.
‘If that is the pleasure Valenta felt when he killed our mother, I believe he will always be a risk to other women.
‘No one has ever told me that he has expressed he is sorry for it. And if he does now, it’s because his freedom is at risk.
‘To keep women safe, keep him locked up.’
Perth MP Dr Anne Aly (pictured) told A Current Affair that she backed the family’s plea to keep Valenta behind bars
The Boyds’ home in Perth where Wayne Valenta killed Deborah Boyd in July 2000 (pictured)
Perth MP Dr Anne Aly told A Current Affair she backed the family’s plea to keep Valenta behind bars.
‘We have an opportunity here to send a very clear message about domestic violence,’ she said.
‘He himself has said that he’s not going to change, he himself has admitted that if he gets let out, he would do it again.
‘This person does not deserve to ever be let out of jail.’
Mr Quigley’s office told the show: ‘The attorney general extends his condolences to the family and friends of Ms Boyd.
‘Last week, the attorney general received a statutory report for Mr Valenta, which was prepared by the Prisoners Review Board.
‘The attorney general will carefully consider the PRB’s recommendation, taking into consideration the requirements as outlined under sections 5A and 5B of the Sentence Administration Act 2003 (WA).’
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