Ashlee Brown’s mother calling for change to murder laws
ASHLEE Brown had over 100 wounds on her body and took five days to die in her Craigieburn home. Her husband will likely see just a few years in jail on a manslaughter charge — but her mother says she “will not rest” until she sees change.
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SIOBHANN Brown can’t stop thinking about her daughter Ashlee lying on the floor of her bathroom nearly two years ago. She was bleeding from head to toe and had more than 100 wounds on her body.
It took her five days to die.
“It’s what I see every day and every night,” Ms Brown told the Herald Sun.
“You’ve got no idea. It’s one thing to hear about someone dying like this, but when it’s your daughter, your baby, your girl who has been through all of this fear and pain, it’s unbearable.
“She suffered for five days and no one is going to be charged for her murder. As a mother, an Australian and the daughter of a Vietnam veteran, I know that’s not right.”
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On Friday in the Victorian Supreme Court, Ashlee’s husband Mohamed Naddaf will be sentenced with manslaughter for failing to get her medical attention in November 2016.
Mr Naddaf told the court he found his wife in the garage of their Craigieburn home but she asked him not to call an ambulance. Instead, he fed her water through a syringe and kept her warm.
“Police told me they didn’t have enough evidence to charge anyone with murder and so it’s manslaughter,” Ms Brown said.
“It took her five days to die and I’m being told he showed her compassion.”
Clumps of hair, packing-tape wrapper and lengths of cord were later found in the bin at couple’s home.
The court also heard Naddaf was a long-time drug user with a significant criminal history.
Even the maximum 20-year sentence won’t be enough for this grieving mother-of-three.
“Let’s remember it’s for negligent manslaughter not murder. I would like to see 20 years but I have been told to expect mid-range so I think about five years,” Ms Brown said in a series of interviews with the Herald Sun in recent weeks.
“It’s no deterrent whatsoever. It should not be how the justice system works.”
Ms Brown had not seen her daughter for five years when she died aged 25. “I only found out she had three children when I was told she had passed away,” she said.
“She was three months pregnant when she asked for my blessing to become a Muslim and marry Mohamed. She called him Macca back then.”
Ms Brown said her daughter Dakota-Lee, 16, and sons Braiden, 22 and Aiden, 11, keep her strong. She also draws strength from her father Bruce “Bomber” Brown who died in 2005.
“We’re all in therapy, there is a lot of anger,” she said.
Ms Brown wants to see Ashlee’s Law passed — a redesign of murder laws to “take manslaughter off the table” in order to better protect victims of family violence.
Ms Brown is urging her supporters to meet outside the Supreme Court on Friday at 10am “and show that you want change”.
“The process is flawed but I will not rest, I will not be quiet, I will not go away,” Ms Brown said.