Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend has been sentenced to 28 years in jail for her senseless and brutal murder, which was revenge for her reporting allegations of sexual assault to police. Daniel Billings was sentenced in the NSW supreme court in Orange today by Justice Natalie Adams, who imposed a non-parole period of 20 years. Billings stood calm and expressionless when the sentence was handed down on Friday morning.
Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare worker, was found dead in her pyjamas at her home at Forbes, in the state’s central west, in the early hours of 22 April 2024. Billings, her former boyfriend, broke into her bedroom and used a hunting knife to stab her 15 times in a ferocious attack that lasted less than a minute. Adams found Billings’ offending was in the high range of seriousness, given he murdered her in the exact way he had long threatened to do.
The 31-year-old former mine worker had repeatedly threatened to smash into Ticehurst’s bedroom and kill her in the months after she ended their on-and-off relationship in December 2023, according to police documents. Ticehurst reported this abuse to the police, who charged him with several counts of sexual assault and a series of domestic violence stalking and intimidation charges. He was also charged with killing Ticehurst’s dachshund puppy with a hammer after an earlier break-up.
Police took out a provisional apprehended violence order against Billings, barring him from entering Forbes. Billings, who previously lived in Dalby, Queensland, spent one night in police custody but was freed on bail by a local court registrar a fortnight before the murder as there was no judge on duty that weekend. Upon his conditional release, Billings became enraged and obsessed with a belief he had been wrongfully accused of rape.
He viewed himself as a victim of injustice, also angered by his claim that police threw his Queensland State of Origin boxing team singlet in the dirt. In a series of videos Billings recorded on his phone in the hours before the murder, he detailed his plans of harming Ticehurst in revenge. Adams sentenced Billings to a maximum term of 28 years for what she described as a brutal attack.
She found Billings acted out of retribution, revenge and “extreme hatred” for Ticehurst, angry after she reported the rape allegations. The murder was also a serious public justice offence, as Billings killed the only witness in his potential rape trial, the judge said. Adams offered her condolences to the Ticehurst family.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
