By Sally Rawsthorne
The wife of slain paramedic Steven Tougher has sobbed as she recounted explaining his death to her three-year-old boy and giving birth to the couple’s first child as a widow, in emotional scenes before the NSW Supreme Court.
“I went into labour as a widow, I welcomed [our baby] into this world without her father there,” Madison Tougher told the court on Thursday, adding she had received a marriage certificate, a death certificate and a birth certificate within three months at the age of 25. The couple had married a month before Steven was killed.
Steven Tougher’s father Jeff, sister Jess and wife Madison (left to right) arrive at the Supreme Court on Thursday.Credit: Kate Geraghty
“I had to explain to [my son] that Steven wasn’t coming home, had to grapple with the reality of explaining death to a three-year-old.”
Jordan James Fineanganofo, 23, who has schizophrenia, believed he was surrounded by demons when he attacked innocent bystanders on April 13 and 14 last year before he fatally stabbed Tougher, who was on a break outside McDonald’s in Campbelltown.
On Friday last week, Justice David Davies delivered special verdicts of “act proven but not criminally responsible” for all six charges against Fineanganofo, including murder, intimidation and weapons offences.
On Thursday, the court heard emotional victim impact statements from family, colleagues and others attacked by Fineanganofo.
Paramedic Steven Tougher was stabbed to death outside Campbelltown McDonald’s.Credit: Police Media
Tougher’s mother, Jill, wept as she told the court “the last breath I take on this earth will be infected with the sadness you have inflicted on me and my family”.
“You don’t even have the guts to look at me,” she said, as Fineanganofo sat in the dock with his head in his hands.
“He was going to be a dad. I had never seen him glow with so much love and happiness as when he found out he [was] going to have a little girl.
“His last moments were a vicious violent person who was stabbing him and just wouldn’t stop. I can’t bring myself to think about how terrified my son would’ve been. That haunts me. I spend large parts of every day staring at the ground, crying. How could you do that to my boy? How could you?”
Paramedic Nateisha Allison (third from left), the work partner of Steven Tougher, with fellow paramedics at the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday.Credit: Kate Geraghty
Tougher’s work partner, Nateisha Allison, told the court that she was haunted by what-ifs.
“Since that morning, my life has looked very different,” said the 26-year-old, who has been diagnosed with PTSD and suffers sleepless nights, flashbacks, has palpitations and panic at car horns and is hyper-vigilant in public.
A man who was pushed by an armed Fineanganofo at a nearby 7-Eleven and chased across the road in the hours before he stabbed Tougher said the incident had ruined his life.
“Before this happened, I enjoyed life. I am a different person now,” he told the court.
He said he couldn’t be near his granddaughter while she cut her birthday cake and wants to be alone constantly.
“He had the choice to stop taking his medication. Because of that choice, so many people have suffered. He has destroyed my life,” the man’s victim impact statement said.
NSW Ambulance chief executive Dr Dominic Morgan said that, since the attack, members of the public had taunted other paramedics. Last Friday, after the decision was handed down, a crew was told “more of youse are going to get stabbed”.
The Tougher family were scathing of the special verdict of acts proven but not criminally responsible, which means that Fineanganofo will remain under the care of the Mental Health Review Tribunal. He will be released when the tribunal is satisfied the community and Fineanganofo himself will be safe, with six-monthly reviews.
Tougher’s sister, Jessica, told the court the family was struggling not knowing how long his killer would be imprisoned.
“I live every day in fear. I worry this will happen again. I have struggled to feel safe and I’ve known he’s been locked in a prison cell. I cannot imagine the fear I would [feel] if he were free,” she said.
Outside court, Tougher’s father, Jeff, said his family would focus on “the fight for change”, adding the Toughers had “complete compassion” for Fineanganofo’s family.
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