The heartbroken father of Molly Ticehurst says he will grieve the loss of his daughter for the rest of his life, telling her killer he hopes her screams “keep you awake” every night.
Daniel Billings has pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Ticehurst inside her Forbes home in April 2024.
He broke into her home and stabbed her while he was on bail, just two weeks after she made sexual assault and domestic violence allegations against him to police.
The mother of one and childcare worker was just 28 years old.
Her father, Tony Ticehurst, spoke of his crushing grief during a heartwrenching victim impact statement in Orange Court on Thursday.
“Not only was Molly my daughter, she was my best friend,” Mr Ticehurst told the court.
“Molly’s life was not complete. She had such a big heart and had so much love to give.
“She lost her life because she let the wrong person into her life. When she realised this, she tried to remove him … that is why she lost her life.”
Billings sat in the courtroom as Mr Ticehurst said his daughter “should have been safe”, telling the court he and his family were now “incomplete”.
Mr Ticehurst said he believed once Billings served his sentence, the “universe will judge you”.
“I hope that every night, Molly’s screams keep you awake,” he said.
“I doubt that there will be a golden ladder reaching down for you.”
Mr Ticehurst choked up while reading out the statement, telling the court that every day now felt like he was “waking into a nightmare”.
“People often ask me, ‘How are you Tony?’ – I always say, ‘Yeah, I’m good’, but what I really want to say is, ‘I’m no longer who I was. No, I’m not good’,” he said.
“‘There is nothing you can do to fix this. I’m not OK, I’m really, really not OK.’
“And then I think of my girl and ask myself, why?”
Ms Ticehurst’s mother, Kate Ticehurst, said she was heartbroken to have lost her best friend.
“My family has been devastated since the morning of April 22, 2024, when a selfish person did a horrendous act and ended my beautiful daughter’s life,” Ms Ticehurst said in a statement read to the court on her behalf.
“Molly’s life was taken far too soon in a violent, malicious manner for no reason other than selfishness.
“Molly was my entire world, and now all I have is memories.”
She said her life was now plagued by sleepless nights and tears that “never stop”, and heartbreak, sadness and anger that would never go away.
“There are no word to describe how my life has been turned upside down,” she said.
“I would like to know the reason he did this. Why?”
Killer’s videos before murder
Billings said he was “gonna go crazy” in a series of videos he recorded before he killed Ms Ticehurst.
Audio of the videos, played to the court on Thursday, portray a rambling Billings talking about how he felt “backed into a corner”.
“I’m not a f–king woman beater or anything… I don’t know what I’m gonna do tonight, but nothing f–king good,” Billings says.
“If I’m going to be punished either way, then OK, I’m gonna go crazy.
“I just…feel backed into a corner and I think like if they want…to make me out to be this this or that…”
Ms Ticehurst had made allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault by Billings just weeks before he killed her.
Billings was arrested the same day and denied sexually assaulting or threatening her.
He admitted to police that he killed their dog after they broke up in June 2023, as “he had nowhere to put the dog”, according to a statement of agreed facts seen by NewsWire.
Mr Ticehurst previously expressed his disappointment as Billings’ case was riddled with delays.
“It seems to me that in life, the system let Molly down, and in death continues the same route,” Mr Ticehurst previously told the ABC.
More to come