Gunnedah NSW: Devastated family's fury at day release for their daughter's ... trends now
The heartbroken mother of a little girl who was so brutally butchered a judge banned details from being published says her teenage killer is being given day release just three years later.
A girl, then 14, killed the 10-year-old in Gunnedah, north-west NSW, in July, 2020, telling her, 'don't worry, darling – I'll make it all go away' moments before attacking her in cold blood at a farmhouse.
The NSW Supreme Court found the mentally-ill teenager, who can't be named for legal reasons, was not criminally responsible for the killing in November, 2021.
Graphic details of the attack were so gruesome the judge banned media outlets from revealing them for the next 20 years.
But the court also ordered the victim could never be identified, named or pictured either, adding to the devastated family's agony - who say their daughter has been left faceless and nameless.
The killer, now aged 17, is reportedly set for day release from her secure psychiatric unit in preparation for a possible permanent release back into society.
'It's utterly devastating,' the victim's anguished mother admitted. 'The system is so messed up. There's no justice to be had.
The disturbed teenager (pictured after her arrest) who savagely killed a 10-year-old girl warned she was set to go on a murderous rampage in a series of terrifying texts
The farming community of Gunnedah in north-western NSW was shocked by the incident
'When it's your own child and the horrific nature of the crime and less then three years later... day release?
'It's devastating to think that's all my daughter's life was worth.'
In the weeks leading up to the deadly attack, the twisted killer tried to tell her parents she 'thought about killing people all the time'.
In texts the night before the killing, revealed in court documents, she admitted to her friend: 'I'm not okay. I can't do it any more. I think I'm going crazy.
'I don't know what to do. I seriously can't take it any longer. I'm not talking to my parents - they are the cause of it.
'Something bad is going to happen and it's going to be irreversible.'
Court documents revealed the day before the killing, the teen boasted to a school friend that she had been standing over her sleeping parents holding a 'big a** knife', ready to stab her father to death.
The former animal lover had previously began killing and mutilating chickens every day, using knives she had been collecting and nicknaming each one.
In chilling late night messages to the friend, the teen - a former star pupil at school - warned she was on a mission to kill, but was frustrated that no-one believed her.
Her friend begged the soon-to-be killer not to follow through on the threats - but she refused, saying: 'I don't like to lie about promises and won't make them if I don't mean them.
'I want to kill dad, torture mum and stab [my sister] countless times then sprawl their corpse out onto the kitchen table.'
She added: 'Sorry, I have to go,' according to the court documents.
The following morning, between 6.30am and 7am, the teenager armed herself with a tomahawk she had nicknamed Tommy, which her father had given her two weeks earlier.
She then tracked down her 10-year-old victim and killed her before dragging the body to her 12-year-old sister's room. The teen then put on a backpack and walked out of the house.
A teenager who was 14 when she killed a 10-year-old girl says she was spurred on by voices inside her head (pictured, footage of an interview held hours later at Gunnedah Police Station)
Just a few hours after these menacing texts, the teenager killed her 10-year-old victim
A psychiatric report later found the girl was suffering from untreated schizophrenia which included auditory hallucinations coaxing her to kill, and delusions her life and experiences were not real.
A short no-jury trial, overseen by Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson, found the girl was suffering from severe mental illness and had difficulty separating 'dreams from reality'.
The teenager was ordered to remain in detention under supervision, with her condition reviewed by the Mental Health Tribunal until deemed fit for release.
Now the victim's family say they have been told their daughter's killer is 'being granted day leave and will probably be out in the next couple of years'.
In a series of posts on Reddit, which have since been deleted, the girl's mother unleashed her anger at the system which she said had made her daughter 'invisible'.
'Less then three years rehabilitation is not enough for taking a child's life,' she wrote.
'It's so unjust and is causing us so much further distress to think that's all our daughter's life is worth.
'I can't bring my 10 year old daughter back to life, my life has been ruined. My family's life has been ruined.
'I can't even show a picture of her face or use her
