Eurydice Dixon’s father makes compassionate speech outside court after Jaymes Todd’s sentence
The father of murdered Eurydice Dixon has delivered a shocking statement on the steps of court, just minutes after watching his daughter’s killer sentenced to spend more than three decades in prison.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Eurydice Dixon’s father showed extraordinary compassion outside court as he wished his daughter’s killer “to get better”.
Speaking from the steps of the Supreme Court moments after Justice Kaye handed down a life sentence for Todd, Jeremy Dixon said he was “very glad there’s a killer off the streets”.
“What I’d wish for Jaymes Todd, and what I believe Eurydice would have wished, is that he gets better,”
“And realises what he’s done,” he said.
“I extend my sincere sympathy for those who love him.”
Flanked by Eurydice’s sister, Polly Cotton, and a dozen family and friends, Mr Dixon urged people to remember his daughter for her “wit, courage and kindness” and not for her death.
He also thanked the community for their support.
Just minutes early, a stone faced Todd showed no emotion as he was sentenced to at least 35 years behind bars.
Protecting the community was a key factor in declaring a sentence of life imprisonment for what was a predatory, cowardly and disturbing crime, Justice Stephen Kaye said.
He said life was the only appropriate sentence given the danger he poses, but set a non-parole term of 35 years.
Justice Kaye said Todd’s disturbed and despicable sexual fantasy which motivated his offending was the “darkest form of human thinking”.
The convicted killer sat with his eyes closed for most of the 90 minute sentencing, and kept his head down as he was led away by prison officers.
The court heard his autism will likely make his time in jail more difficult and he had already had conflict with one other inmate.
Todd has been in a protection unit since his arrest in June last year.
Todd was just 19 when he stalked Ms Dixon for almost an hour as she made her way through Melbourne’s CBD towards her home in Princes Hill on the evening of June 12 last year.
Comedian Ms Dixon was raped and strangled in Princes Park shortly after midnight on June 13 last year as she walked across the soccer pitches.
Todd had been drinking for several hours before he spotted Ms Dixon, 22, while loitering by himself outside Flinders St train station, following her for 54 minutes.
Shortly after midnight, unaware she was being followed, Ms Dixon stopped to remove her socks and shoes and began to walk barefoot through the park.
She had crossed two soccer pitches and had just stepped onto the third when Todd attacked her from behind.
Todd over powered her, raped her and strangled her to death on the soccer pitch before fleeing with her mobile phone.
Justice Kaye described the assault as “most callous and cowardly”.
“You waited until she was in the darkest reaches of the park. She was vulnerable and defenceless,” he said.
Justice Kaye said it was near on impossible to imagine the sheer terror Ms Dixon must have felt.
“Her last moments on this earth must have been utterly horrifying for her,” he said.
The killer, now 20, had been consumed with thoughts of sexual sadism for more than a year and the Supreme Court heard it was a driving force behind the murder.
After sleeping on a train station bench and wandering the nearby streets for several hours, Todd bought himself a pie and a coffee and played on Ms Dixon’s phone, before returning to the scene of the crime but was turned away by police.
Ms Dixon’s body had been discovered by a cyclist a few hours earlier.
Just hours after carrying out the brutal rape and murder, Todd returned to his home in Broadmeadows and watched “strangulation porn” — a depraved fantasy he had become increasingly obsessed with in the months leading up to the attack.
He said he felt “nothing” after the horrific attack and that it hadn’t lived up to his sick fantasies.
When arrested, Todd denied being the killer but eventually confessed, admitting: “I did it, I’ll tell you everything”.
He pleaded guilty to rape and murder.
Justice Kaye said Todd’s behaviour showed there was no evidence the events troubled his conscience at all.
“You had an entire lack of concern for what you had done to an innocent and decent young woman,” he said.
In delivering his sentence, Justice Kaye said he had taken into account evidence from two psychiatrists in regards to Todd’s autism and sexual sadism disorder.
His honour said he was not satisfied that his “particularly mild” autism directly contributed to the offending.
He did however, consider it played a small role in his addiction to his “dark and sick sexual fantasy”.
READ MORE:
EURYDICE’S FINAL MOMENTS REVEALED
NEW SCHOLARSHIPS IN MEMORY OF EURYDICE
The overwhelming obsession with enacting his sadistic fantasy propelled Todd’s offending, Justice Kaye said.
He said Todd would pose an unacceptable risk to the community, particularly women, if released.
Justice Kaye said he took into account that Todd had no convictions, was only 19 at the time and pleaded guilty, sparing others the pain of a long trial. He said Todd’s autism would also make his time in prison more difficult.
But the crime was an act of “pure and unmitigated evil”, a cowardly and predatory attack on a young woman going about her life.
He said Todd would not simply “walk free” at the end of his non-parole term and it would be a matter for the parole board, who would take into account whether his release would endanger the community.