Teagen Ferguson’s smile is something her sister Courtney will always cherish.
“She’d always be laughing. You’d hiccup and she’d laugh. You’d sneeze and she’d laugh. Her smile and her laughter is the one thing I remember her by,” Courtney said.
Teagen’s family has now suffered for many years; from her father inflicting terrible brain injuries on her when she was a toddler, and now from her eventual death due to those injuries. Credit: 9 News Perth
Next month marks four years since Teagen died from catastrophic injuries inflicted by her father Terrence Bice when she was just two years old.
Bice lifted Teagan up and threw her violently to the floor of their home in the northern Perth suburb of Wanneroo after being unable to stop her crying.
Courtney was there during Bice’s violent outburst in 2005.
“I started to remember what happened, and I started to remember that I was actually there and the trauma wasn’t [being blocked out] any more, and he became this figure that was a monster to me,” Courtney said.
“As a child, I was terrified of him.”
Teagen suffered a catastrophic brain injury and endured 16 chronic medical conditions before dying at the age of 18 in 2020.
Now, Courtney is speaking of her anguish ahead of Bice’s release on parole.
A court sketch of Terrence John Bice from 2005. Credit: 9 News Perth
“Yes he was eligible for it, but he didn’t need to be given it. It doesn’t feel like justice at all. It doesn’t feel long enough,” she said.
Bice was sentenced in September last year to a term of 4½ years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter following his daughter’s death.
He had already served time for grievous bodily harm after first being convicted over the assault in 2005.
Two weeks after his sentencing, Teagen’s mother Kristy Ferguson died of cancer.
Bice has served 5½ years behind bars in total.
With time already served taken into account, Bice, 42, is due to be released on Wednesday. But the Prisoners Review Board has kept its reasons confidential.
“I feel like I do deserve to know – I feel like it’s not fair that I don’t know [the reasons for Bice’s release],” Courtney said.
Bice’s sentence for inflicting the catastrophic and, eventually, fatal injuries on Teagen was not long enough, according to her aunt Tanya Fogarty.
“Even though he has been held accountable by the law, he hasn’t really spent enough time for the time that he’s taken away from Teagen,” Fogarty said.
“I still watch Courtney’s struggle, and try to help her get through each day emotionally, mentally, and she’s still living with that pain.”
Teagen will be remembered for her smiles and laughter. Credit: 9 News Perth
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the family to help Courtney heal as the 23-year-old draws on her sister’s strength.
“No matter what, [Teagen] never gave up. She always fought and fought and fought, and she always did it with a smile too,” Courtney said.
9 News Perth
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