source : the age
The man whose brutal murder of his former partner triggered a national reckoning on domestic violence plans to appeal against a sentence advocates argued was already too lenient.
Daniel Billings was last month sentenced to 28 years in prison for the 2024 knife attack on Forbes childcare worker Molly Ticehurst. He will be eligible for parole in just 18 years, opening the door to freedom before his 50th birthday.
The independent MP for the seat of Orange Phil Donato and state Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane urged the Office of The Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to consider whether there were grounds to appeal against the sentence because it did not reflect the severity of the crime.
The ODPP declined to seek a longer prison term by the deadline of last Friday after it “carefully considered the sentence imposed and the circumstances of the case”.
However, the Herald can now reveal Billings has lodged his own notice of intention to overturn the sentence.
“He’s got a hide,” Donato said on Monday night.
“He’s entitled to appeal, but he’s got a hide to do it because this will just anger the victim’s family and the community. They have all been through enough as it is.”
Donato was also critical of the ODPP’s decision to not seek a tougher penalty. “It was a weak decision,” he said.
Billings broke through Ticehurst’s window in Forbes just before midnight on April 22 and stabbed her more than a dozen times, including in the face and neck, killing her nearly instantly.
He was on bail after Ticehurst had earlier told police Billings had sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her. Billings had also killed her 12-week-old dachshund puppy with a hammer.
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to the murder and penned an apology letter in May claiming he was remorseful.
“How do I feel for what I done? I feel horrible, ashamed I’ve ruined so many lives,” Billings wrote.
“I’m not a heartless monster like they say, I’m just a human, capable of making mistakes and capable of feelings and emotions and I feel like absolute shit and I’m as sorry as a person can be for what I have done.”
The Crown argued Ticehurst’s death was both a coercive control domestic violence murder and also a public justice offence because Billings had killed a witness. It said he should be the first case since early plea laws were introduced in 2018 to not get a discount.
Justice Natalie Adams ultimately granted him a 20 per cent discount rather than the 25 per cent available.
“It must have been absolutely terrifying for Ticehurst to die knowing her worst fears were realised,” Adams said last month.
Donato said if Billings was sorry he would not subject Ticehurst’s family to more legal uncertainty.
“I just hope his appeal is unsuccessful,” Donato said.
Billings now has 12 months to advance his notice of intention to appeal.
The appeal could also be the catalyst for a longer sentence or result in no change.
Asked whether he agreed with the ODPP’s decision not to seek a tougher sentence, NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday told reporters he did.
“In so much as I worry that it could be reduced from where it was,” Minns said.
“I don’t think it was adequate, I think that the judge missed an opportunity to send an unambiguous message, but there’s always the chance that the appeal doesn’t increase the sentence, it decreases, so I can understand the circumstance that the DPP made the decision.”
The Minns government banned registrars from making decisions on major charges following Ticehurst’s murder, and reversed the presumption of bail for people charged with serious domestic violence offences.
The government last year passed legislation enshrining a standard non-parole period of 25 years for the murder of a current or former partner, but that is a guide only – not a mandatory minimum – and the law was not retrospective, meaning it didn’t apply to Billings.
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Bevan Shields is a senior writer, and former editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
