Killer Fiona Barbieri apologises to Inspector Bryson Anderson’s family
Fiona Barbieri has been granted parole after apologising to the family of the police officer she and her teenage son killed during a violent standoff at their squalid Sydney home.
Police & Courts
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Schizophrenic Sydney mother Fiona Barbieri has been granted parole after apologising to the family of the cop she and her son killed.
Inspector Bryson Anderson was stabbed to death when he walked into the northwestern Sydney home of Ms Barbieri and her son Mitchell to sort out a volatile neighbourhood dispute eight years ago.
“On the 6th of December 2012, parents lost a son, a wife lost a husband and children lost their father, and the community lost a hard working, decorated police officer,” defence lawyer Stephen Alexander said on Tuesday.
“Ms Barbieri apologises to the family and friends of Insp Anderson … and is sorry for their loss.”
Mitchell Barbieri, then 19, is behind bars for at least 15 years for knifing the 45-year-old dad after the prosecution conceded he was affected by his mother’s paranoid delusions.
Fiona Barbieri was sentenced to at least six years and six months in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter over the violent stand-off.
That minimum term expired in June, but in May the State Parole Authority denied her freedom, citing a need for a further psychiatric report to determine a discharge plan before she could be considered for release.
She was granted parole at a public review hearing on Tuesday, with SPA Chairman David Frearson SC ordering Barbieri to be released within one week.
Mr Frearson said Barbieri’s low risk of reoffending could be addressed through 18 parole conditions, adding any threat to community safety would be increased if she was released later with a shorter supervision period.
“She has been unfailingly compliant with mental health interventions,” he said.
Dr Gordon Elliott found the model prisoner had undergone counselling and rehabilitation programs while behind bars, is stable on her antipsychotic medication and “appeared determined” not to return to her previous cannabis addiction, the court heard.
Barbieri is banned from any contact with her son, and from visiting the Hawkesbury region where the murder took place, as well as the Hills Shire, Parramatta City and Wollondilly Shire.
She will be subjected to random checks and visits by parole supervisors, and is banned from taking drugs, possessing weapons, contacting Insp Anderson’s family and leaving NSW without permission.
Mr Frearson acknowledged the trauma suffered by Insp Anderson’s relatives who opposed Barbieri’s parole, noting “no sentence could ever compensate for a precious human life.”
Barbieri and her son had barricaded themselves inside their squalid Oakville fortress with an arsenal of barbaric weapons when police arrived after a call from neighbours on December 6, 2012.
Mr Frearson said they believed their neighbour was trying to force them off their property “so he could buy it cheaply.”
The pair screamed abuse at police, sending emails to a host of politicians about having the right to defend themselves while also laying booby traps, the court heard.
When officers tried to storm in through the back door, Mitchell Barbieri picked up a large hunting knife and stabbed Inspector Anderson twice, while his mother swung a 1.8kg sledgehammer at officers.
Mr Frearson said after she was arrested, Barbieri indicated she knew nothing about the slaying “which was clearly a lie.”
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While at the police station, Barbieri also demanded to speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying she and her son were seeking asylum in Russia, the court heard.
Fiona Barbieri was also given a fixed sentence of four years and six months for use of an offensive weapon with intent to hinder lawful apprehension. This sentence expired on 5 June 2017.
Her maximum nine-year sentence for manslaughter expires in December 2022