- Sunshine stabbing victim had been in court just hours before attack
- By SHANNON DEERY, JON KAILA, KATHRYN POWLEY
- 19/04/2014 Make a Comment (1)
- Contributed by: Bewitched ( 29 articles in 2014 )
Stabbing victim Fiona Warzywoda
A WOMAN slain in broad daylight just hours after going to court over an intervention order concerning the man now accused of her murder was planning to start a new life in regional Victoria.
Fiona Warzywoda, 33, was stabbed to death outside her solicitor’s office on Wednesday, shortly after leaving court.
Her de facto, Craig McDermott, 38, faced court yesterday charged with her murder.
Magistrate Peter Reardon on Thursday granted the Herald Sun permission to report the existence of an intervention order between Ms Warzywoda and her former partner.
He refused an application on behalf of Chief Commissioner Ken Lay to suppress this, saying the matter should not be hidden.
He said the issue had been highlighted following the recent murder of young schoolboy Luke Batty.
“In this particular case it seems clear ... at this stage, that an affected family member had attended at Sunshine Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
“Subsequently she was murdered,” Mr Reardon said.
“In my view, in light of a number of recent events ... in these circumstances it is in the public interest.”
Police say Ms Warzywoda was killed in front of dozens of witnesses, and the stabbing may have been captured on CCTV cameras.
It is believed Mr McDermott’s son from another relationship, who is aged in his early 20s, was at the scene of the killing in Sunshine.
Friends of Ms Warzywoda told the Herald Sun she had not been pregnant, as some media had reported, and that her 15-year-old daughter had not been at the scene.
They said she had broken up with Mr McDermott, with whom she has four children, aged five to 15, just before Christmas and had been planning a new life in Bendigo.
Mr McDermott, his arm bandaged and dressed in a grey jumper and jeans, sat flanked by two security guards during his court appearance.
He had been taken to the emergency room at the Western Hospital in Footscray after surrendering to police at Sunshine police station.
The court heard he had injured his hand, which would require further medical attention, and it was his first time being held in custody.
Prosecutor Tim Bourbon asked Mr Reardon to allow police 10 weeks to prepare a brief of evidence.
He said many eyewitnesses to the killing had to be interviewed.
Police would also need to scour hours of CCTV footage which may have captured the killing, he said.
MAKE IT A CRIME AGAINST STATE
A CHILD protection expert has called for tougher family violence laws and a renewed push to convict more men who break intervention orders.
Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive Joe Tucci said changes to the law were needed, to treat family violence as a crime against the state rather than against an individual.
Dr Tucci said this would put the onus on police to pursue a case through to prosecution, and put less pressure on victims to be at the centre of proceedings.
“The impetus moves from the victim to the state, to prosecute these forms of violence,” he said.
“It’s not up to the victim to press charges, they become witnesses.”
Dr Tucci also said “there should not be discretion in convicting men for even the smallest of failures to comply with intervention orders”.
The Herald Sun understands authorities are still examining approaches to family violence and intervention orders after the death of Luke Batty, killed by his dad in Tyabb.
The Department of Human Services, police, and the Department of Justice are meeting fortnightly to examine connections between parolees, intervention orders and child protection orders, in a bid to improve responses to the issue.
Police are grappling with a big increase in reported family violence, with court figures showing that there has been a 42 per cent increase in intervention orders in the past five years.
Police statistics released earlier this year showed there were 20,418 breaches of intervention orders in 2013, up by 40 per cent from the previous year.
Fiona Warzywoda, 33, was stabbed to death outside her solicitor’s office on Wednesday, shortly after leaving court.
Her de facto, Craig McDermott, 38, faced court yesterday charged with her murder.
Magistrate Peter Reardon on Thursday granted the Herald Sun permission to report the existence of an intervention order between Ms Warzywoda and her former partner.
He refused an application on behalf of Chief Commissioner Ken Lay to suppress this, saying the matter should not be hidden.
He said the issue had been highlighted following the recent murder of young schoolboy Luke Batty.
“In this particular case it seems clear ... at this stage, that an affected family member had attended at Sunshine Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
“Subsequently she was murdered,” Mr Reardon said.
“In my view, in light of a number of recent events ... in these circumstances it is in the public interest.”
Police say Ms Warzywoda was killed in front of dozens of witnesses, and the stabbing may have been captured on CCTV cameras.
It is believed Mr McDermott’s son from another relationship, who is aged in his early 20s, was at the scene of the killing in Sunshine.
Friends of Ms Warzywoda told the Herald Sun she had not been pregnant, as some media had reported, and that her 15-year-old daughter had not been at the scene.
They said she had broken up with Mr McDermott, with whom she has four children, aged five to 15, just before Christmas and had been planning a new life in Bendigo.
Mr McDermott, his arm bandaged and dressed in a grey jumper and jeans, sat flanked by two security guards during his court appearance.
He had been taken to the emergency room at the Western Hospital in Footscray after surrendering to police at Sunshine police station.
The court heard he had injured his hand, which would require further medical attention, and it was his first time being held in custody.
Prosecutor Tim Bourbon asked Mr Reardon to allow police 10 weeks to prepare a brief of evidence.
He said many eyewitnesses to the killing had to be interviewed.
Police would also need to scour hours of CCTV footage which may have captured the killing, he said.
MAKE IT A CRIME AGAINST STATE
A CHILD protection expert has called for tougher family violence laws and a renewed push to convict more men who break intervention orders.
Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive Joe Tucci said changes to the law were needed, to treat family violence as a crime against the state rather than against an individual.
Dr Tucci said this would put the onus on police to pursue a case through to prosecution, and put less pressure on victims to be at the centre of proceedings.
“The impetus moves from the victim to the state, to prosecute these forms of violence,” he said.
“It’s not up to the victim to press charges, they become witnesses.”
Dr Tucci also said “there should not be discretion in convicting men for even the smallest of failures to comply with intervention orders”.
The Herald Sun understands authorities are still examining approaches to family violence and intervention orders after the death of Luke Batty, killed by his dad in Tyabb.
The Department of Human Services, police, and the Department of Justice are meeting fortnightly to examine connections between parolees, intervention orders and child protection orders, in a bid to improve responses to the issue.
Police are grappling with a big increase in reported family violence, with court figures showing that there has been a 42 per cent increase in intervention orders in the past five years.
Police statistics released earlier this year showed there were 20,418 breaches of intervention orders in 2013, up by 40 per cent from the previous year.
Source: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/sunshine-stabbing-victim-had-been-in-court-just-hours-before-attack/story-fni0fee2-1226886533791
1) Nobody likes to see a death arise from family disputes; especially our innocent and most vulnerable, yes our kids. Condolences to the 4 children and families. Whilst emotions are still high, equally as important is forgiveness to their father for doing the unthinkable. May god have mercy upon his soul.
2) Do we ever get the full story and background from such disputes? NO.
Perhaps with judge Reardon stating "In my view, in light of a number of recent events ... in these circumstances it is in the public interest", maybe all the facts of this case and and all family cases (excl. identifiable details) which hereon in exhibit difficulty should be made available to the public in some form, as clearly it is in the public interest to resolve our societal family mess that has plagued a majority of westernised nations for at least the past four decades. Something is wrong and we must get to the bottom of it. Those who hinder such an advance could be regarded as an enemy of the state.
3) Why is it always hush hush? Because various people don't want the truth and root of such problems to be aired and into the public's awareness, nor have simple solutions resolving what appears to most, to be complex problems.
4) There are numerous legal and business sectors profiting from family breakdown so what would happen economically and control wise if all of a sudden there were no more problems?
5) Yes we need another paradigm shift in relation to the 'family' alright. As history has revealed, the last shift away from the nuclear family has gone to hell in a hen basket. How about we do a shift back to basics in alignment with nature and common sense? Now there's a novel idea.
A crime against the state - are we talking criminal activities of treason, sedition or rebellion here? As one definition describes, all crime is against the state, or government, insofar as it disturbs the public order and tranquility. So how dare and where is this article going defaming all men and fathers?
As for the likes of Joe Tucci popping his head up again, now on the topic of making 'it a crime of the state' against more men who break IVOs/AVOs, what biased dribble are you on about you wanker? Look, kindly sit back down Mr Tucci and be quiet until you have something more sensible to add. Yes, we know every time you appear in a newspaper article it equates to more work and money for you; court reports, lectures, books, royalties and the like. Whilst it maybe understandable that you loathe men or fathers, possibly having been abused yourself, and yes it maybe seen as commendable as well as lucrative to protect kids from abusers, but have you yet forgiven those who have abused you as a child?
So if women breach an IVO/AVO that's ok? What about the myriad of Family Court orders that get breached and abuse/assaults that are perpetrated upon men everyday by women? Perhaps we need to make all that a crime against the state too.
But because women are child breeders for the workforce [slaveforce is more apt] and good consumers, women are given concessions, lots of them. Does this then give all women an exemption from any harm they cause? I should think not. Now keep in mind I am not turning this into a gender war, far from it, but a rational and balanced view of the differences between man, woman, state and god.
What's of concern to me is that an alarming rate we are allowing the state to control our kids. Without the presence of fathers teaching our young how to be strong, rational, free and independent thinkers who can assert their god given rights and freedoms anytime, our kids and future generations may be in strife.
Let's get back to basics. Firstly, if an individual breaks god's law where harm is done, redemption is sought. A trial of his peers may come into play if rights and freedoms are to be interfered with.
Secondly, in relation to all these family problems and deaths we hear about, these are simply symptoms of 'the family unit' under attack. And no prizes for guessing when the shit hit the fan, yes in 1975 and introduction of the Family Court. Being a control mechanism to administer not justice but oversee the separation process, it on the whole financially rewarded women for taking the kids and breaking up the family on behalf of the state.
Of course there are those fathers who abandon the family for various reasons and this is not fair at times either. However, if men leave peacefully without disturbing the remainder of the family unit, the harm caused could be said by many mums to be minimal and of preference when compared with an abusive husband and father. As always, the kids are left struggling, loss and abandonment issues on one hand and physical/emotional abuse on the other; both interfering with a child's healthy development.
Though looking back now it all makes sense. The infidelity, free love and burning of their bras in the 60s was all a planned empowerment process for women to leave their husbands, dismantling the family unit and looking for the green grass on the other side.
Now there's some irony. How wonderful as men and fathers get blamed again, this time for a crime against the state when it was the state who in fact committed the crime against men, fathers and families in the first place. Wow, someone knows how to do a right royal propaganda job on us.
If we don't get some people at the centre of influence who have love in their heart, know how to reason, use lateral thinking with good problem solving skills who truly understand human nature, more deaths and injustices will keep occurring just as sure as the sun sets and moon shines bright.
And stop looking to politicians for answers, they won't help. Whilst they are in a position to fix things with a blink of an eye, the majority in parliament are either too busy with infighting, power struggles, ego trips and not caring about anybody much but themselves and their families. The real problem is we must look at ourselves. We are all the problem until we become our own solution.
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