The Australian crimes in 2015 that shocked us
THIS woman’s smiling face will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. She is a victim of a bloody year that shocked the nation.
THEIR faces are familiar and their names won’t be forgotten, but these Australians would have done anything to avoid being remembered this way.
They each began the year like the rest of us, living ordinary lives away from the national spotlight and far removed from the world of serious crime.
Certainly none would have ever imagined their worlds would end so violently and in most cases, quite brutally. Once they were gone their families not only had to deal with grief but had their lives laid bare as the eyes of the country — and police — remained fixed on them.
And with the cases against many of the accused still working their way through the legal system, the nightmare for these families is not over yet.
STEPHANIE SCOTT
There could be few happier times in anyone’s life than on their wedding day. Stephanie Scott, a popular teacher at Leeton, in NSW, was due to marry her fiance Aaron-Leeson Woolley the weekend after she was killed.
The 26-year-old spent her final day alive doing last minute wedding prep at home before she went into Leeton High School to prepare lesson plans for her English and drama classes while she was on her honeymoon.
She was never seen alive again.
After a massive search, and with speculation running rampant as to what happened over three frantic days, police announced they had arrested Vincent Stanford, a 24-year-old school cleaner.
Two days later Ms Scott’s burnt remains were found in remote bush, about 70km away from where she was last seen. The following day was meant to be her wedding day.
Instead of celebrating friends and family gathered to comfort each other.
Stanford was charged with her murder and aggravated sexual assault. In the weeks that followed, his identical twin brother Marcus was charged with being an accessory to Ms Scott’s murder.
It is alleged he disposed of her personal belongings after being mailed them by his brother.
Both are in custody. At their last court appearance they entered no pleas, and the cases were adjourned until February.
KARLIE AND KHANDALYCE
The discovery of bones in an old suitcase abandoned on the side of a remote South Australian highway near Wynarka, east of Adelaide, was enough to get the whole country talking. Confirmation that they were the bones of a small girl simply added to the horror.
Then, in an unbelievable twist, police confirmed the identity of the girl, as three-year-old Khandalyce Pearce and revealed her mother, Karlie Pearce-Stevenson was also dead — her remains were found in the notorious Belanglo State Forest in NSW in 2010.
More revelations soon followed. Someone took almost $100,000 from Ms Pearce-Stevenson’s bank accounts after she was killed, and on some occasions pretended to be her to convince her family she was still alive.
Even after her remains were found in 2010 — and serial killer Ivan Milat ruled out — it wasn’t until her daughter’s bones were discovered in April this year that police got closer to the truth about who she really was.
Daniel Holdom, an associate of Ms Pearce-Stevenson has been charged with both her murder and that of Khandalyce. His former partner Hazel Passmore has been questioned by detectives in relation to identity theft, but has not been charged.
In an added twist, it emerged Hazel Passmore was paralysed and two of her children killed after a crash in 2008 of which Holdom was the driver.
Daniel Holdom will return to court in January.
A SCHOOLGIRL SLAIN
Masa Vukotic, 17, was taking a walk in the park the night she crossed paths with her killer, Sean Price.
It was March 17 and the schoolgirl was in the park near Doncaster, Melbourne, when Price laid eyes on her.
He attacked her with a large kitchen knife, stabbing her repeatedly until she was dead.
After his arrest, Price told police, in chilling detail, how decided to stab Ms Vukotic when she started talking to a bird “like f***ing Snow White”.
“I was looking, looking and I just thought f*** this, this is the moment. This one just ended up being the one, I just f***en had to kill her, man.”
Price grabbed Ms Vukotic and dragged her into bushes as she pleaded with him not to hurt her. He ignored her pleas and stabbed her 49 times.
“I just f***en just started ripping and stabbing and f***ing just stabbing”, he told police.
Price had multiple previous convictions for rapes, indecent assaults, robbery and violence from as far back as 2002. All victims were female.
He has pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Vukotic and raping a woman the next day, robbing a man of his mobile phone and attempting to steal a BMW.
A review has been received by the Victorian Government about the handling of Price’s case — he had been on parole at the time of the murder.
A pre-sentence hearing was held in early December. He will be sentenced early in 2016.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HORROR
It was another horror year with a series of devastating deaths of women at the hands of their partners, with estimates that a female dies in Australia at least once a week in this way. Two alleged cases of domestic violence in particular left their communities reeling.
TARA BROWN
The thought of young mother Tara Brown, trapped in her damaged car, while her former partner and ex-bikie Lionel Patea allegedly battered her with a fire hydrant cover, sent shock waves throughout the Gold Coast.
Ms Brown repeatedly begged a person not to attack her just moments before she was bashed to death, documents tendered in court alleged.
A harrowing triple-0 call Ms Brown made before she was killed will be played at Patea’s murder trial. The morning of her death she left a childcare centre and was driving when she made the emergency call.
Details of the call given in court were that she could be heard begging her attacker to leave her alone before a loud crash, which police say was the sound of a car hitting hers.
The call was still connected as she was then bashed while she was still trapped in the vehicle. She died in hospital of extensive head injuries a day later.
Patea has been committed to stand trial for murder at the Supreme Court in Brisbane. A trial date has not been set.
KIRRALEE PAEPAEREI
Mum of four, Kirralee Paepaerei was five months pregnant when she was allegedly stabbed to death at her western Sydney home in September.
A family member found Ms Paepaerei’s face and chest covered with stab wounds. The 37-year-old and her unborn child were dead.
Her partner Joshua Scott Homann, 38, was charged with her murder as well as grievous bodily harm with intent, in relation to the baby.
Shortly after the incident Homann drove himself to Mount Druitt police station and claimed he had been attacked during a violent home invasion. He was treated in hospital before being taken into custody.
He will face a committal hearing next year.
TERRORISM THREAT
From threats of a public beheading, to raids that apparently disrupted plans to commit atrocities on home soil, to Australians attempting to, sometimes successfully, leave the country to join Islamic State.
THE SHOOTING MURDER OF CURTIS CHENG
For months police had warned of a ‘lone wolf’ style attack, either on a member of the public or one of their own officers. Security was upgraded at police stations and officers told to carry their guns when in uniform.
But it was still a shock when, on the afternoon of October 2, a radicalised 15-year-old boy Farhad Jabar, waited with a gun outside the Parramatta police station. NSW Police Force accountant Curtis Cheng was on his way home and was shot in the back of the head by Jabar, who then taunted police outside the station. He was eventually shot dead.
In the aftermath, three other men were charged over their alleged involvement in the killing, amid public angst over how someone so young could become radicalised so quickly.
ANZAC DAY TERROR PLOT
In April five teenagers were arrested over an alleged Islamic State plot in Melbourne. The plot originally began in the UK where a 15-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to inciting a Melbourne man to kill police officers at an Anzac Day parade.
Two were charged with terrorism offences but terror charges were dropped against one of the youths who pleaded guilty to minor weapons charges.
TIAHLEIGH PALMER
Who killed 12-year-old Tiahleigh Palmer? The murder mystery is still gripping the Gold Coast as the schoolgirl’s family and friends endue their first holiday season without her.
She was dropped off a short distance from her school, Marsden State High School, but never made it inside. Her body was eventually found on November 5 on the banks of the Pimpama River on the Gold Coast, 30km away from the school.
A shoe was later found elsewhere along the river but despite extensive searches her backpack and school uniform have never been found.
Police have also appealed to anyone with dashcam footage that was in the area around her school. While hundreds of people have come forward with information, police have said they still need more from the public.
The investigation has been clouded by claims police were slow to investigate the missing person report. They were also hampered by child protection laws that made it difficult to publicly identify a foster child.
They have also revealed that they may never know what killed young Tia because her body had decomposed so badly.
PHIL WALSH
Australia’s sporting community was stunned with the murder of Adelaide Crows coach in July. Phil Walsh, 55, was stabbed to death in his own home, allegedly by his son, Cy Walsh, 26.
Walsh’s wife, Meredith, was also taken to hospital and treated for a leg injury.
Cy Walsh was charged with murder later that day and has been held in a secure psychiatric hospital ever since.
He was found in a neighbouring suburb hours after the killing. At a court hearing in December, he entered a plea of not guilty to murder on the grounds of mental incompetence.
Adelaide Crows chaplain Mark Purcell told Walsh’s funeral service that Meredith requested guests to join in prayer for Cy.
“Come to him in his time of need. Watch over him and bring peace to his heart,” Purcell said.
Cy Walsh will next appear in the Supreme Court on February 1
FATHER AND SON FUGITIVES
Gino, 57, and Mark Stocco, 36, were on the run for a staggering eight years, evading police up and down the east coast. They were wanted for questioning in relation to fraud and robbery.
On October 16 this year they allegedly shot at highway patrol officers near the Victorian border. In the days that followed they were spotted throughout central Victoria and southern NSW, allegedly stealing vehicles and petrol.
On October 27 police — acting on a tip-off — surrounded a property in Dunedoo, near Dubbo, in central west NSW.
They were eventually arrested without serious incident. But then police discovered the body of the caretaker of the property they had been on in a shallow grave on the property.
Rosario Cimone, 68, had been shot three times.
As well as murder they have been charged with dishonestly obtaining property by deception, police pursuit and discharging a firearm with intent to resist arrest.
The Crown is preparing a brief of evidence against the Stocco’s. They will next appear in court on January 20
Originally published as The Australian crimes in 2015 that shocked us
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