{"id":87943,"date":"2026-09-04T06:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/87943\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T06:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:58:13","slug":"daniel-billings-sentencing-molly-ticehurst-killer-photographed-after-molly-ticehurst-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/87943\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Billings sentencing: Molly Ticehurst killer photographed after Molly Ticehurst murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Perry<\/p>\n

September 4, 2026 \u2014 3:53pm<\/p>\n

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Daniel Billings had every chance to turn back from killing Molly Ticehurst. Instead, he plotted her murder for days, recorded his plans and farewells, and carried out the savage attack \u2013 fully aware it would destroy the lives of her child and his own.<\/p>\n

In fact, a court heard, he appeared \u201cjubilant\u201d and \u201ceuphoric\u201d prior to the killing.<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Billings pictured at Parkes Police Station in the hours after Molly Ticehurst\u2019s murder.NSW Supreme Court<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old childcare worker was stabbed to death while alone in her home in Forbes in April 2024.<\/p>\n

Billings then drove to his friend\u2019s house to drink rum, where he was quickly arrested before being photographed by police, images released by the court on Friday show.<\/p>\n

Ticehurst had accused Billings, her ex partner, of sexual assault after he had killed her dog with a hammer, smashed her belongings and threatened to kill her.<\/p>\n

But a local court registrar at Dubbo released him on bail.<\/p>\n

\"MollyMolly Ticehurst and her son.Sharni Tolhurst Photography<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, Billings rambled in hours-long videos about \u201cbecoming a monster\u201d and the violence he would soon exact on Ticehurst for daring to leave him.<\/p>\n

The NSW Supreme Court on Friday heard submissions from prosecutors about Billings\u2019 state of mind in the lead-up to his senseless attack, to which he pleaded guilty in November last year.<\/p>\n

\"DanielDaniel Billings pictured at a Supreme Court hearing last month.Rocco Fazzari<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until now I would never ever have put a finger on a female out of anger,\u201d Billings said in a recording to a friend at 2pm, the day before the murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a pretty foolproof plan, whether I get to her or any of her family, and they get away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you guys are going to lose me, and I\u2019m going to lose, then they shall lose too. They shall not get away from this unscathed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Lee Carr, SC, said those comments showed Billings was determined to exact violence against Ticehurst and her family.<\/p>\n

Billings\u2019 mental capacity, including planning and behaviour before the murder, is important for Justice Natalie Adams\u2019 sentencing calculations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hours of evidence on the subject was heard from two psychiatrists during the sentencing hearing on Thursday and Friday. Both agreed Billings had depression, but disagree about the severity and impact on his mindset.<\/p>\n

\"MollyMolly and her father, Tony, who paid tribute to his beloved daughter on Thursday.Sharni Tolhurst Photography<\/p>\n

Ticehurst had told police that Billings had threatened to come through her window and \u201ccut her head off\u201d. It was almost prophetic that he had made such threats, Carr said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has made the worst fear of [Ticehurst] come true,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Left:<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something she had been fearing for some considerable period of time. She had moved out of the town for the safety of herself and her child.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billings\u2019 lawyers said his actions were \u201cloose plans\u201d and did not amount to proper planning.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old\u2019s callousness and moral culpability is also relevant to the sentence Adams will choose to hand down.<\/p>\n

Carr highlighted a video where Billings spoke about the impact his crime would have on those around Ticehurst and himself. He appeared \u201ceuphoric\u201d, the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my kid\u2019s going to have to grow up without his father, or with his father in a jail cell, then it\u2019s eye for an eye,\u201d Billings said in one video.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow there\u2019s going to be two kids without a parent, I\u2019ve just ruined two little innocent children\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billings in one video held up rosary beads and said they had been a gift from his child. They were the reason he chose not to kill himself following the murder, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Adams said Billings appeared \u201cjubilant\u201d after he killed Ticehurst, then had a creeping realisation of what he had done.<\/p>\n

Carr said Billings may have shown some empathy or caring for what he had done to the children \u2013 but he showed no thought for Ticehurst or her brutal death.<\/p>\n

Billings had exhibited some remorse, Adams said, but she had seen people show more in their letters to the court.<\/p>\n

He had complained, in his letter to the court which was also released on Friday, about his treatment in the media, and being trapped in a cell.<\/p>\n

Billings\u2019 lawyers asked Adams to consider he had reduced moral culpability.<\/p>\n

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