Geelong’s calculated murderers and chance killers exposed
The number of calculated murderers and chance killers in Geelong has swelled with a rush of sentences of late. Take a look back at some of these convicted killers and their grisly crimes.
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Substance abuse, disrupted childhoods and toxic masculinity are just a few reasons why some Geelong residents may have been driven to commit the violent crime of murder, a local expert has said.
Now-convicted murderer Bradley Taylor, 37, will not see freedom until at least 2039 after a judge sentenced him on Friday for the grisly and “savage” stabbing death of Norlane man Christopher Kennedy.
Supreme Court Judge Lex Lasry said the accused man’s background has “told an all too familiar story about a life that has been almost destroyed by various influences, including drugs”.
According to Deakin University’s senior lecturer in criminology, Mary Iliadis, the reasons people commit serious offences are “informed by a range of complex, multilayered and varied social and individual circumstances”, including substance abuse and childhood trauma.
Dr Iliadis said growing up in an environment where violence is either witnessed or experienced by an accused person “can be a predisposition to offending and intergenerational trauma”.
“This can also lead to substance use which fuels and intensifies the severity, frequency and unpredictability of violent offences,” she said.
Accused people who have spent time behind bars for other offending are also likely to commit a more violent and fatal crime, with Dr Iliadis explaining that offences can “intensify in severity and scope”.
According to data from the Sentencing Council of Victoria, the number of people convicted of murders in the state dropped from the 34 people in 2015-16 to 24 in the 2019-20 reporting period.
Of those sentenced in 2015-16, just over 76 per cent were imprisoned. In 2019-20, 22 of the offenders were put behind bars.
In total, 128 people have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for the charge of murder between 2015 and 2020, but just 13 received the maximum penalty of life behind bars.
Research shows that violent forms of offending, such as murder, are overwhelmingly committed by men, which Dr Iliadis said is fuelled in large part by “characteristics of toxic masculinity”.
“Feelings of vulnerability, low self-esteem and subservience that challenge a man’s sense of self-worth and dominance can also result in violent expressions and actions,” Dr Iliadis said.
Here we take a look back the Geelong residents convicted of murder, the lesser charge of manslaughter, or for offending that led to the death of another in the last year.
Bradley Taylor
A Geelong man has been sentenced to 23 years behind bars for the “unprovoked and severe” murder of Christopher Kennedy during a drug-induced psychosis.
Bradley Taylor, 37, had only known Mr Kennedy for a few hours when he “savagely” stabbed him 11 times in June 2020.
Taylor, who had consumed a cocktail of ice, cannabis and alcohol, then tied a bag around Mr Kennedy’s head, doused him in a flammable liquid and turned on a gas burner before fleeing.
Mr Kennedy’s body was found by a community nurse the next day.
Taylor, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in May to murdering Mr Kennedy at his Iona St property.
Neighbours said they heard loud noises around 7.30pm from the house, including Mr Kennedy telling Taylor to “f**k off”.
Nicholas Cross
Nicholas Cross was found guilty of murdering Maddison Pante-Parrott in a tent at the Geelong Showgrounds in 2018.
Cross, who pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, was found guilty beyond reasonable doubt of “deliberately shooting and killing” Ms Pante-Parrott on the morning of December 3, 2018, and either burning the tent himself or directing someone else to.
In the days after the murder, the Supreme Court heard Cross sold the car linked to the Geelong Showgrounds and made his way out of the area with a plan to make it to Queensland.
The court heard that a few days after Ms Pante-Parrott’s murder, Mr Cross had fled Geelong and sent a text message that read he “wasn’t going anywhere without them knowing … when they get me I’m getting 10 years Min”.
Justice Rita Incerti rejected Cross’ explanation of these text messages as simply concern that he would be charged as an accessory for the murder.
Joshua Hocking
A Connewarre man pleaded guilty earlier this year for the fatal stabbing of another man in his Planet Ct home.
Joshua Luke Hocking, 37, appeared before the Victorian Supreme Court and pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
Hocking was accused of stabbing Whittington man Geoffrey McDonald, 47, in his home at about 3pm on October 14, 2020.
A 17-year-old man in the home at the time of the incident discovered Mr McDonald with life-threatening injuries. He later died in hospital.
At the time, police said they believed Hocking and McDonald were known to each other.
Following the stabbing, Hocking and a woman fled the scene and was located five days later in Corio.
Angela Surtees
A woman who doused her husband in petrol and set him on fire as their children watched television claimed she was “not a monster” and “doesn’t belong in a cage” before her sentencing this year.
Details of Geelong woman Angela Surtees’ “disturbing” crimes were aired in the Supreme Court in March this year as Justice Andrew Tinney handed down his sentence.
Surtees, 34, set her husband Daniel on fire as he sat in an armchair at their Geelong home following an argument in January 2020.
She pleaded guilty to manslaughter over Daniel’s gruesome death and will remain behind bars until at least 2028.
The court was told Surtees did not intend to set her husband alight and only wanted him to fear he would catch on fire.
“You alone caused his death by your criminal and outrageous actions,” Justice Tinney said.
Ellyas Bouras
A Melbourne truck driver who ran a red light before crashing into a Geelong grandmother’s car and killing her has been jailed.
Ellyas Bouras, of Clyde from Melbourne’s outer southeast, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in the County Court.
The 39-year-old said he was distracted when he read through a red light at the intersection of Bacchus Marsh Rd and the Geelong Ring Rd on-ramp in Corio and struck Nada Stoyanovski’s car in January.
The 64-year-old grandmother was declared dead at the scene.
Judge Michael Tinney said while Bouras had no criminal history “he slipped up terribly on this day with these dreadful consequences”.
“Nada Stoyanovski’s family have been devastated by their loss, but also the manner of her death. It was sudden and unexpected. It was so unnecessary and so completely avoidable,” Judge Tinney said.
Jessica Dixon
A Mount Duneed woman encouraged her partner to kill himself but avoided a lengthy jail term back in April.
Jessica Dixon, 27, pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to relentlessly abuse her partner Tyrone Reith-Myers over a sustained period between December 2017 and April 2019.
Dixon had been in relationship with Mr Reith-Myers from 2013 and up until his death by suicide on April 15, 2019.
Prosecutor Damien Hannan told the court Dixon wrote messages including “you should kill yourself”, “neck yourself”, “slit your throat” and “no one wants you around”.
Geelong Magistrate Simon Guthrie told the court he was horrified by Dixon’s abuse before questioning the character references.
“To say she is a kind, trustworthy person, I just wonder how well they know her,” Mr Guthrie said.
“I was horrified, absolutely horrified.”
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