Phillip Baldwin: Daughter shares heartbreak after Bomaderry suicide pact

A woman has laid bare her trauma after her mother died in a failed suicide pact in which her stepfather survived and has admitted helping his wife end her life.

Phillip Baldwin outside Nowra District Court. Picture: Tom McGann.

The daughter of a woman who died in a failed suicide pact on the NSW south coast has revealed the torture and anger her family continues to feel as a court tries to decide how to sentence her stepfather for his role in her mother’s death.

Former police officer Phillip Baldwin, 72, is set to be sentenced later this year after admitting to aiding and abetting the death of his 68-year-old wife Joanne Baldwin at Bomaderry in July last year.

The Nowra District Court has previously heard the pair had decided to both die in a suicide pact following a continued and intense family drama. But when emergency services arrived at their home, only Mrs Baldwin was dead.

In a victim’s impact statement read by a detective in Nowra District Court on Monday, Ms Baldwin’s daughter Hayley Upton spoke of the “torturous” emotions her family had felt since her mother’s death.

Phillip Baldwin sat in the court and cried as the statement was being read out.

Joanne Maree Baldwin. Picture: Supplied.

“The journey we have been on since my mother’s passing has been nothing short of torturous,” she wrote.

“The torment and blame unfairly placed on us is indescribable.”

David Pl, Bomaderry. Picture: Tom McGann.

Ms Upton said she felt guilty for not doing more to help her mother and said she struggled to sleep thinking of her final days.

“Her last days thinking we didn’t love her will forever haunt me,” she said.

Ms Upton also revealed her family received suicide notes supposedly written by Ms Baldwin before her death.

However, the court heard the letters were not signed by Ms Baldwin.

Phillip Baldwin. Picture: Tom McGann.

She stated someone also began using her mum’s Facebook account after her death.

“I am so angry,” she wrote.

The statement from Mrs Baldwin’s daughter comes months after her stepfather pleaded guilty to the charge.

On Monday in the Nowra District Court, a prosecutor said it was “clear” an abundance of planning was taken into Ms Baldwin’s death.

Documents tendered to the court state a month before the planned suicide, the pair signed their will and power of attorney documents and a funeral had been organised.

Phillip Baldwin being led from Nowra District Court by his defence barrister. Picture: Tom McGann.

On July 4, the day of the pact, officers and paramedics arrived at the David Pl, Bomaderry home to find the 68-year-old woman’s body in a camp chair in a blue gown.

They estimated she had been dead for 20 minutes.

Baldwin was arrested and informed officers he helped end his wife’s life.

“I’m not trying to sugar coat anything and if it means I get charged with something, then so be it,” he told police.

Baldwin was arrested and charged on August 25 last year.

Judge Jennifer English conceded it was a “rare” crime, but one that needed to be taken very seriously.

Baldwin’s defence barrister urged the court to consider a community corrections order, given his client’s lack of criminal record.

He said if a supervised intensive corrections order was the final sentence, he would need to move back to NSW.

Judge English said a community corrections order did not fit the seriousness of the crime.

The matter was adjourned for two months to give Baldwin time to make arrangements to move back to NSW.

The former police officer will be sentenced on October 24.

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