Source : Perth Now news
WARNING: distressing details
A harrowing coronial inquest into the death of a Sydney teacher’s aide has come to an emotional close, with the court being told the pair had met on a dating site just eight days before her murder.
Dannielle Finlay-Jones was just 31 when she was killed by Ashley Gaddie, 33, a man who unbeknown to her had a horrific history of domestic violence and six AVOs from five other women.
It was their third date.
The pair had been out to Christmas drinks on December 17, 2022 with Ms Finlay-Jones’ friends, the first time they had met Gaddie, before they went home to a friend’s house in Cranebrook in Sydney’s north-west.
The next morning, Ms Finlay-Jones was found dead in her friend’s spare bedroom, and Gaddie had fled the scene.
He was later arrested on suspicion of murder; however, he will never be held fully accountable for the act after he died while in custody.
On Thursday, counsel assisting Donna Ward SC said Ms Finlay-Jones died of a blunt force injury and pressure on the neck consistent with strangling.
“The court would be comfortably satisfied that Ashely Gaddie conflicted those injures,” she said.
Gaddie’s fingerprints were found in the spare bedroom, with the fly screen also broken where it is believed the 33-year-old escaped.
Ms Ward said the pair’s relationship was still in its infancy at the time of the murder.
“They had only met in person eight days before Danielle’s death,” she said.
Turning to Gaddie’s violent past, the inquest was told the tradesman was seemingly unable to sustain a long-term intimate relationship.
“His relationships grew shorter and shorter and some of those relationships overlapped,” Ms Ward said.
“His relationships were characterised by physical and verbal abuse, often while intoxicated.”
He also had previous convictions for horrific domestic violence offences as well as six AVOs taken out against him by five different women between 2016 and 2022.
In July 2022, an alert was sent to NSW Community Corrections that Gaddie’s case should be reviewed when possible after he had again been charged by police.
Gaddie was not arrested but was issued with a future court attendance notice.
The alert was “clearly visible” on screen when Gaddie was charged, the inquest was told, but “nothing happened”.
By August, the alert had disappeared.
It wasn’t until after Ms Finlay-Jones’ death that it was discovered during a critical incident review, which then led to a statewide review.
“In other words, the closer correctives looked, the more problems they found,” she said.
Ms Ward said counsel had listened carefully to Danielle’s mother Jacky.
“We acknowledge that this is a file to us and it sits among many we work on … and the emotional distance helps us to do our job, she said.
“But we hope that Jacky and Blake and all of Danielle’s family and friends know that we have listened to them … by listening, we have come to understand a little about Danny, although we will never know her.”
The matter is now set to be referred to the domestic violence death review team, with the inquest conceding that more needs to be done to stop people like Gaddie from using dating apps and putting “hundreds if not thousands of women in danger”.
Lasting legacy
While much of this week’s inquest has been centred on Gaddie’s violent, on Thursday afternoon it turned to the incredible legacy Ms Finlay-Jones had left behind.
Ms Finlay-Jones’ mother Jacky, while sporting a white T-shirt with the slogan “She Matters”, told the inquest there were questions that still haunted her.
The heartbroken mother went on to read harrowing statistics about the number of women killed by their partner in the past four years while they had awaited the inquest.
“Dannielle was the 60th woman across Australia that was killed in 2022 to domestic violence,” she said.
“Behind every one of those numbers is another broken mother, brother, sister and family.
“Dannielle may appear to some as a statistic but she wasn’t a statistic, she was my daughter.
“What still overwhelms me is discovering just how loved, respected and cherished she was to so many people.”
Ms Finlay-Jones was a soccer player for Ramsgate RSL for 25 years and was a passionate captain and leader to her teammates.
She was also working as a teacher’s aide at a southern Sydney school where a memorial garden now sits in her memory.
The inquest recommendations are expected to be handed down in six months.
