The family of Molly Ticehurst, who was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend Daniel Billings in her home in central western New South Wales in ۲۰۲۴, has come face-to-face with her killer.
Tony Ticehurst on Thursday described his ۲۸-year-old daughter as big-hearted and deeply loved. She was his best friend and confidant, he told the supreme court in Orange.
His voice heavy with emotion, Ticehurst addressed Billings directly several times, describing him as selfish.
“I hope that every night Molly’s screams keep you awake,” Tony Ticehurst told the first day of Billings’ sentence hearing.
“When she died, part of me died with her. I believe that after you serve your punishment here on earth, the justice system of the universe will judge you.”
Molly’s mother, Kate, held her hand tightly over her face as her victim impact statement was read by a relative.
“Molly was my only child and my best friend,” her statement read. “I’m heartbroken that my girl is no longer with me.”
Billings was wearing a black suit and white shirt with sneakers. He often leaned his head against the back of the dock and closed his eyes on Thursday.
He bowed his head while listening to several victim impact statements.
About ۵۰ of Molly’s family and friends attended the hearing, some wearing shirts saying “Her name was Molly”.
The court heard Billings broke into her Forbes bedroom just before midnight on ۲۱ April ۲۰۲۴. He stabbed Molly ۱۵ times in a ferocious attack that lasted less than a minute.
The trainee mining driller had repeatedly threatened to break into her home and kill her in the preceding weeks and months.
He had been charged with several counts of raping Molly and a string of domestic violence offences, but was freed on bail by a local court registrar a fortnight before the murder.
Police had taken out a provisional apprehended violence order against Billings.
Billings pleaded guilty to murder in November ۲۰۲۵ after ۱۸ months of legal negotiations. The sexual assault charges were subsequently dropped.
Molly Ticehurst’s murder intensified a national campaign against gendered violence and led to legal changes in NSW, including tighter bail laws for people accused of domestic violence.
Her father said that had brought some comfort, along with knowing his daughter was now safe from Billings.
“Molly’s law has now been introduced; I will be forever proud to be her dad,” he told the court.
Donna Thornell, the mother of Orange woman Kristy Armstrong, who was killed when her abusive estranged husband ran her car off a road in ۲۰۲۳, was also in court to support the Ticehursts.
The court was on Thursday viewing several hours of videos that Billings made before the murder, in which he foreshadowed the crime.
Charges of property damage, animal cruelty offences and breaching the apprehended violence order were to be taken into consideration in Billings’ sentence.
Justice Natalie Adams has indicated she will hand down her sentence later in September.
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