Doncaster Dad Stabbed Wife to Death - Not Guilty

A woman was killed by her psychotic partner in front of her 11 year old daughter.

Crime: Murder (not guilty)

Occurred: 8 August 2010

Where: Marilyn Street, Doncaster

Sentenced:  1 March 2013

Not convicted:  Sestilio Cavallari

Victim:  Susan Wood

What happened?
Sestilio and Susan had been in a de facto relationship since 1985.  They had an 11 year old daughter, Tegan.  In the days leading up to Susan's death, Sestilio was acting a little off.  On 6 August 2010, he stood up his wife for lunch and later they had an argument.  He also booked a ticket to Italy, telling the travel agent that he needed to go by 9 August because "something bad [was] going to happen".  When the travel agent later rang to tell him that his Italian passport was expired and he wouldn't be able to use it for travel, Sestilio said he was already aware that was the case.

Susan was so worried by her partner, who was not talking much sense, that she rang her father to express her concern.  She asked her dad and brother to come over, but Sestilio took the phone and said that it was not necessary.  After another argument, Sestilio left the house and later returned, eventually tearing up his plane ticket. "I'm not going, but something's going to happen," he said.

Later that night, upon her father's request, Tegan slept in his bed.  Throughout the night she heard him say, "They're gunna take me away, they're gunna lock me up and your mum will know what she's done to me."

The next morning, Tegan heard her parents arguing and then her mother started screaming.  She ran into the bedroom to see that Sestilio was attacking and scratching Susan, and there was blood in her hair.  Susan cried out for Tegan to call triple 0.  Sestilio dragged Susan by her hair into the kitchen.  By the time Tegan had called emergency services and returned to the kitchen, her mother had been stabbed 37 times.  She died of wounds inflicted to her neck.

The street where Sestilio and Susan lived (source).

Victim's background
Susan is reported to have been 52 years old when she died. She was an associate director of an investment group.  She worked full time while Sestilio was the primary carer of Tegan.

Sestilio's background
Sestilio was reported to be 56 years old at the time of the murder.  Medical experts at his hearing described that during the murder and afterwards, he was in a psychotic state.  However, no underlying disorder (ie schizophrenia) had been diagnosed at the time of the hearing.  One doctor noted Sestilio's wish to reconciliate with Susan's family, and that as Sestilio tries to maintain a relationship with his daughter in the future, he will be at increased risk of depression and a relapse into psychosis.

Before and during the hearing, Sestilio was a patient at the Thomas Embling Hospital.

The Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield (source).

Outcome of trial
In 2012 a jury found that Sestilio was unfit to stand trial.  A subsequent hearing occurred before a judge who, after considering the evidence of several medical professionals, determined that Sestilio was not guilty on the basis of mental impairment.

The judge noted that Susan's brother, Dr Graeme Wood, had been receiving "persistent" contact from the hospital where Sestilio was staying, which was "on the surface of it, appear[ed] to be extremely insensitive".  The judge further observed that the particular order imposed on Sestilio did not enable conditions, but recommended that hospital staff discuss the issue with Dr Wood.

Sentence: Sestilio was made liable to a custodial supervision order and committed into the custody of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health.  The nominal term of his order is 25 years beginning from 8 August 2010.

You can read the judgment here.  A news article is available here.  You can find more information about mental impairment and custodial supervision orders in the Victorian criminal justice system here.

Burned Alive by Boyfriend Who Prevented Onlooker Assistance

Crime:  Murder
Occurred: 1 June 2010
Sentenced: 19 October 2011
Where: Safeway Service Station, Mountain Highway, Bayswater
Convicted: David Warwick Hopkins
Victim: Nicole Joy Millar

What happened?
On a Tuesday morning, David and his de facto partner Nicole dropped off Nicole’s son at Bayswater Secondary College.  They then drove to Woolworths where the CCTV recorded them stopped in the car park for about five minutes.  No one knows what was said during these few minutes.  Nicole then drove into the Safeway Service Station. David got out of the car, grabbed the petrol pump, went back into the car and began spraying petrol all over Nicole, restraining her from getting out of the car even though she was sounding the car horn and screaming for help. Removing a knife from his pocket, he slashed her throat and then lit her alight with a cigarette lighter. He jumped out of the car as his partner was engulfed in flames.

Nicole managed to drag herself out of the driver’s door, falling to the ground.  For three minutes and 21 seconds she writhed on the ground in agony, screaming for the whole time, while David stopped anyone from coming to her assistance, telling them “fuck off, I’m going to kill you”.  He stabbed himself with a knife he had been carrying in the chest and throat (superficially).  The whole event was captured on CCTV. David stood by and said “burn bitch burn” and “hurry up and burn”.

The fire quickly destroyed the car.

Eventually, when a member of the public in desperation tried to run over David in his car, David left the scene and onlookers extinguished the flames on her charred body. David, who had fled, was later found at the back of a church by police and was sprayed with capsicum spray three times which failed to have any effect.  He held onto the knife in a standoff with police for two hours before surrendering.

Nicole's daughter, Ashley, misses her Mum.

Nicole was taken to hospital where she begged an anaesthetist “please don’t let me die”.  However, her burns were too severe for survival.  Doctors could only place her into a painless sleep; she died later that same evening.

Victim's background
Nicole was 42 when she was murdered.  She had been involved in a string of abusive relationships throughout her life.  She was a cleaner and then a driver for an automotive firm.  She was a regular drug user and had three children aged from 15 to 22.  Nicole moved in with David two years earlier and he proved to be no exception to her pattern of destructive relationships.  In the days leading up to her death, David would come to Nicole’s work place threatening to kill her and physically abusing her and her employer.  People who knew her said that she was terrified of David.  However, between the workplace incidents and the day of her death, she had reconciled with David and they were happy that morning when they dropped off her son to school.

The onlookers

The witnesses to this event were extremely traumatised.  Some tendered victim impact statements to the court.  One man suffered post traumatic disorder to such an extreme extent he has spent several months since in a psychiatric hospital.  Another person is unable to go to the petrol station anymore.  Another witness speaks of her distress at approaching the victim and then fleeing in horror: “I just ran away, I could not bear to look at the girl. She had plenty of people to help her and the sight of her was just horrific…I haven’t been able to sleep at all since it happened.”

In sentencing the judge described David’s actions as ‘the worst kind of viciousness and sadistic behaviour that a court is likely to ever see’.

The petrol station where the murder occurred.

Convicted's background

David was 40 at the time of the murder.  He was one of seven children and has a twin brother.  His father was a fireman and his mother was a housewife. Suffering with dyslexia, he repeated Year 7 (during which time he also hit a teacher) and was expelled from a technical school in Year 8 after abusing the principal. 

David arrives to Court for sentencing.

He had a range of mostly unskilled jobs ranging from tree lopper, petrol attendant and constructing pool tables before building up a successful business in shedding which collapsed due to his drug addictions which ranged from heroin, ice, prescription drugs and anabolic steroids.

David has three sons to two different women.

In the 24 hours leading up to Nicole’s death, David consumed a cocktail of drugs but his calmness upon arrest and lucid behaviour leading up to the incident led experts and the court to believe that he was not in psychosis during her murder.

Outcome of trial: David pleaded guilty to murder.  There was no need for a trial.

Sentence: David was sentenced to imprisonment for life.  Such a sentence is not limited to a specific time such as 25 years – a life sentence is for life.  The court can refuse to set a minimum sentence.  However, in this case the judge did set a minimum of 30 years before David will be eligible for parole.  Even David’s lawyer did not argue that a life sentence was not appropriate.

You can read the judgement here.  Media coverage is available here and here.