Stalker’s sinister plot – He thought he’d get away with my friend’s murder
Every time I switched on the news or glanced at a headline it seemed to be the same. There were constant stories of violence against women.
Devastating murders such as the Gold Coast woman whose ex-husband shot her outside McDonald’s, or the heartbreaking story of the little girl’s body found in a suitcase.
‘I feel so helpless,’ I’d tell my husband, Tyron.
As a stay-at-home mum to Sierra, four, Kobi, three, and baby Indianna, I’d come to realise how lucky I was.
Previously, Tyron had worked for the police and he told me the stories I saw on the news weren’t even the half of it.
‘Most of our call-outs were domestic violence related,’ he said.
I took to lighting a candle every time I heard about a new victim. It was such a small act, but it became my way of acknowledging that individual.
‘Mummy wants to remember someone,’ I’d tell my older two kids.
Then one night, I was watching the news when a face I recognised ashed up on the screen.
It can’t be,
I thought, as I listened in shock.
Fabiana Palhares, 34, had been bludgeoned to death by her ex-partner Brock Wall.
It was a horrendous crime – made even worse when I heard Fabiana was 11 weeks pregnant with Wall’s baby.
My hands shook as I dialled my friend Leah’s number.
‘I’ve just seen the news,’ I said. ‘Fabiana.’
Leah was distraught.
Fabiana was one of her closest friends.
I knew her too, we’d spent various evenings together laughing and chatting.
How could she be dead?
As more came out about how Wall had stalked Fabiana for months, breaching domestic violence orders and attacking her on previous occasions, I felt so angry.
I’d had no idea what was going on.
‘This has to stop,’ I told Leah. ‘And I want to do something to stop it.’ I started small.
I’m going to arrange a fundraising lunch, I decided.
Using contacts from my previous corporate career, Leah and I set up an event.
We’d hoped to write a few cheques for various domestic violence charities for a few hundred dollars, but in May 2015 – three months after Fabiana’s horri c murder – we raised
Following the tragic death of her friend, Zoe is working in the community to change lives
$6000 in her memory.
It was the start of something huge.
That September, I partnered with two other women, Manuela Whitford and Julia McKenna, to set up our not-for-pro t charity, Friends with Dignity.
Manuela and Julia had both worked in the sector before.
Julia was Allison BadenClay’s cousin and had seen rst-hand the devastation domestic violence wreaked on a family after Allison’s appalling murder by her husband Gerard Baden-Clay.
Like me, they were sick of standing by and wanted to do something.
Looking for a gap to ll, we found it quickly.
People who have escaped need practical help, I realised.
With assistance, families could arrange a new place to live, but often, they’d still only have the clothes on their backs.
They shouldn’t have to worry about beds and washing machines after what they’ve been through, we decided.
That was something we could provide by rallying local communities to donate goods – anything from a sofa to a set of clothes pegs.
We worked with refuges and crisis centres, and when there was a family in need, we put a call-out on Facebook.
Locals were quick to help, and over the years, with community generosity, we managed to furnish hundreds of homes.
It meant that people could start rebuilding their lives with dignity.
In July 2018, Brock Wall, 38, appeared at the Supreme Court in Brisbane and pleaded guilty to murdering Fabiana Palhares.
At his sentencing two weeks later, the court heard that during their ve month relationship, Wall had verbally and physically abused my friend, before he’d killed her with an axe.
But what struck me most was his total lack of remorse at what he had done.
He’d tried to take his own life in custody, and
He had physically abused my friend before he killed her
beforehand, he had written a letter to Fabiana.
I strangely feel relieved you are dead, the letter said. I don’t even care or miss you.
In earlier court proceedings, Wall indicated he was going to argue he had become ‘accidentally intoxicated’ by an antidrowsiness drug when he killed Fabiana.
Computer records revealed he’d even preplanned his murder defence, researching the drug.
He tried to get away with my friend’s murder, I realised. Wall was given two life sentences to run concurrently, with a nonparole period of 20 years.
Reading about his sentencing spurred me on.
I hadn’t been able to help Fabiana, but thousands of women all over Australia were living with men like Wall and I could help them.
Five years on, we’ve hosted 40 events and raised $500,000 for our now national charity.
We’ve also launched the Little Friends Scholarships, which has provided over 250 children affected by domestic violence with money for extra curricular activities.
‘Not all families are as lucky as ours,’ I explain to my kids.
Sierra, now nine, Kobi, eight, and Indianna, six, understand that, and they are often a xture at my work, handing out lea ets or helping collect toys.
Friends with Dignity was even awarded the accolade of Australian Charity of the Year in 2018.
It was such a huge validation that what we were doing was making a signi cant difference.
‘I’m so proud of you,’ my husband Tyron said.
I was proud too and I’m sure Fabiana would have been. Indirectly, she has completely changed my life and the lives of so many other families.
What happened to her is still happening but it’s not enough to sit by and watch.
I’m happy that our charity can make such an enormous difference.
While I still light candles, there’s so much more I can do now too.
For more information, search Facebook for ‘Friends with Dignity’
I still light candles but there’s so much more I can do now