‘I Miss Molly So Much’: Heartbroken dad demands change after daughter’s DV tragedy
Tony Ticehurst waited 18 months to hear his daughter Molly’s killer plead guilty, then made a permanent tribute that carries deep meaning for his grandson.
Shattered by grief, Tony Ticehurst decided the moment had come to get a memorial tattoo – a lioness with piercing blue eyes – to honour his murdered daughter and keep her close to him always.
Childcare worker Molly’s former partner Daniel Billings had pleaded guilty last Friday to murdering Molly – repeatedly stabbing her with a hunting knife – and to killing her dachshund puppy with a hammer.
They were words Tony and the family had waited 18 months to hear as the case was repeatedly delayed and adjourned.
Three days later, on Monday, a tattooist friend inked the artwork on Tony’s left thigh.
“It’s a fitting time – I had put off getting it done because of court dates and this time I was not going to put it off,” he said, his voice tightening with emotion.
“Molly had a tattoo on her left shoulder of a lioness guarding her cub, the cub had blue eyes, as Nate, her son does, it was to represent her looking after her boy.
“I have a tattoo now, a lioness in a ferocious position, with a heart-shaped clock saying 14 minutes past eight, which was the time Molly was born, and written in Latin, it says she flies with her own wings… that’s my memorial to my girl,” he said, before tailing off in tears. “I talk to Molly all the time, as any grieving parent would.
Mr Ticehurst, 67, who works in the mines, has been consumed by grief, attending every court hearing and praying for justice, in the agonising belief his youngest daughter, 28, was repeatedly let down by a catalogue of errors culminating in her death.
The horrific attack on the mother-of-one shocked the state and prompted changes to NSW bail laws that now mandate electronic monitoring for serious domestic violence offenders and require senior judicial officers to decide on bail.
Chilling detail of the horrific domestic violence homicide contained in court documents reveal Billings, 30, videoed his intentions on his phone: “And she reckons I was going to (break in) through the f..ken window and cut her head off or something, maybe I might do that.”
Hours later, on the evening of April 21, 2024, he killed her.
Billings and Ms Ticehurst had been in a tempestuous relationship from early 2022 and broke up finally on December 18, 2023.
When he murdered her he was on bail over charges relating to his former partner, including stalk/intimidation, sexual intercourse without consent, and animal cruelty.
Court documents state Ms Ticehurst alleged Billings had sexually assaulted her inside his ute and threatened to kill her at knifepoint.
In notes she had written that were later handed to police, she said: “I truely (sic) believe he will hurt me & he will not stop contact me, I live in fear for my life … my family and my animals.”
Police secured an AVO to protect her against Billings.
He was arrested at work but was released on bail by Dubbo Local Court the following day.
Mr Ticehurst says his daughter was let down by “the system”, including the state government’s anti-domestic violence program – the New South Wales’ Staying At Home Leaving Violence Scheme – which had promised to fit lights, surveillance cameras and tough window screens at her home two weeks after she reported her ex to police.
Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Minister Jodie Harrison acknowledged to The Sunday Telegraph that “it’s clear the system let Molly down” but that the NSW government had made significant investments to close gaps in its crisis response, including tightening bail laws.
“I acknowledge Molly’s death has had a devastating impact on her family, loved ones and the Forbes community,” Ms Harrison said.
“The NSW government is doing everything it can to build a safer NSW so this kind of senseless murder doesn’t happen again.”
Forbes Mayor Phyllis Miller has called for justice and says the community is still reeling from the tragedy.
“One of the community’s young educators was so brutally taken and from her son, it was shocking for the community – we want justice, you can't take someone’s life without paying,” she said.
Ms Ticehurst’s son Nate, who turns eight next month and is being cared for by his father and his grandmother Kate Ticehurst, is inevitably affected.
So, too, is her half-sister Brooke, 40.
“He’s doing well but ... at any age when you find out something like that, it upsets you, you can’t say losing your mother wouldn’t affect you,” Mr Ticehurst said.
“I’m not legally smart enough to know what needs to be addressed but the whole system is wrong.”
He is urging the thieves who looted his daughter’s home days after her murder to return her sentimental belongings, especially the gold nugget necklace shaped like a woman holding a child, which he wants to pass on to his grandson.
“I want to give it Nate when he’s old enough to remember his mum,” he said.
He has vowed to keep her memory alive with a second “Things happen in the dark. Leave your light on for Molly” campaign on April 12, when she would have turned 30. The campaign calls on people to leave the front‑porch light on to remember to draw attention to domestic violence,
A gathering outside State Parliament to raise awareness about domestic violence issues is planned for early next year.
“Molly loved fishing and was the type of woman who would have a go at anything,” Mr Ticehurst said.
“I bought a small chainsaw to cut up my birthday cake a few years ago (as a joke), she wanted to trim hedges at her place and asked ‘how do you operate this dad?’ and she got straight in and cut the bushes with the chainsaw, she picked it up quickly.
“We were best mates, there wasn’t a day we didn’t contact each other, and when I worked away and she’d call or send a text message from Nate, saying he misses his pop and wants to know when you’ll visit on your next days off.
“The blue eyes on Molly’s tattoo were Nate’s and my lioness sees life through Nate’s eyes – it’s Molly seeing life through Nate’s eyes and Nate carrying on her memory.”
“I miss her, I miss Molly very much,” he said haltingly.
“I wish she was still here but maybe something positive will come from her death.”
Billings will face an arraignment hearing in the Supreme Court of NSW in December.
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Originally published as ‘I Miss Molly So Much’: Heartbroken dad demands change after daughter’s DV tragedy
