Courtney Herron’s devastated father opens up on tragic death
The devastated father of Courtney Herron, who was found dead in a Melbourne park, has opened up on his family’s agony as he prepares for his daughter’s accused killer to front court.
Law & Order
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The father of a woman found dead in a Melbourne park has remembered his “intelligent, vibrant, beautiful girl” ahead of her accused killer’s appearance at the Supreme Court today.
John Herron said he couldn’t describe the pain of losing his eldest daughter, Courtney Herron, who was found dead in Royal Park in Parkville last May.
“Words really can’t describe how bad it is,” Mr Herron said. “There’s nothing to describe it. There’s always this feeling. A feeling of that we’ll never see her again. It’s the ever-present pain.”
He described Ms Herron, 25, as someone who “had the world at her feet” and had hidden talents as a musician and an artist.
“She won an (art) award at the Melbourne Show, which I have hanging on my bedroom wall,” Mr Herron said.
“She used to dismiss it, saying ‘it’s no big deal, Dad’.
“She read Harry Potter (by herself) at the age of eight, nine, 10. She was a very intelligent, vibrant, beautiful girl.”
Mr Herron said his daughter had a “very strong” relationship with her siblings and remembered the happy times they shared, including a trip to Queensland for a family wedding.
“(She was a) caring and thoughtful individual,” he said.
Ms Herron’s accused killer, 27-year-old homeless man Henry Hammond, will appear at the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Tuesday for a mention hearing.
“I know that Courtney would want to see justice done on what happened to her. (But) whatever may happen (in court), it just doesn’t bring her back … it just doesn’t bring her back,” Mr Herron said. “It’s like a wound that we have the dressing ripped off every time.”
Mr Herron called for a change in attitudes towards women and said the “general outpouring of grief” shared by the wider Melbourne community was humbling.
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“The message really needs to resonate in society that violence against women is simply not acceptable,” he said.
“First of all, to preserve the memory of Courtney — and I’m sure Courtney would like that message to be resonated. She died unnecessarily. She had the world at her feet.”