The father of a schoolgirl who was savagely murdered in a crime so heinous Australians will never know the extent of it has said the justice system was wrong to punish the killer “100 per cent”.
Bridgette ‘Biddy’ Porter, 10, died in a horrific attack on a farm in rural New South Wales in July 2020.
The identity of her killer, a mentally ill 14-year-old girl she knew, cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
Biddy’s injuries were so horrific that they have been hidden from the public for 20 years.
Following advice from the New South Wales Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the family initially supported seeking a “special” verdict.
This meant that in 2021 a judge considered that the crime was “proven but (the accused) is not criminally responsible” due to her mental health problems.
Biddy’s parents, Dominic and Rebekah, were told this would result in their daughter’s killer spending more time incarcerated under the care of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, which controls his future release.
But both were outraged to discover she had been allowed daytime freedom earlier this year.
Bridgette ‘Biddy’ Porter, 10, died in a horrific attack on a farm in New South Wales in 2020
The identity of his killer, a mentally ill 14-year-old girl he knew, cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
Dominic Porter, who has suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder following the death of his daughter, feels let down by the justice system and is campaigning for changes to victims’ rights.
‘They (the criminal justice system) were 100 percent wrong. It’s in the detectives’ point of view. “I think that’s the opinion of the Australian public,” Mr Porter told Daily Mail Australia.
The former bank director fears that his daughter’s murderer will soon taste freedom and is irritated that he has received more support than those left to recover the pieces of his crimes.
“It’s going to happen, she will be free,” Porter told this publication.
‘He has received more benefits within the children’s prison, as I call it, in all aspects: mental health, physical care, accommodation and food: he is effectively paid for being in prison. And any member of the Australian public would not sit well with that.”
Meanwhile, after Biddy’s murder, her parents were only entitled to support payments of $7,500.
Porter reserves particular anger towards the DPP and the MHRT and has called for an investigation into both.
It is a move that has the support of Orange independent member Phillip Donato, who will present an e-petition signed by almost 40,000 people to debate Biddy’s case on the floor of the NSW parliament next week.
“There needs to be some accountability,” Mr. Porter said.
“You cannot say that no one is responsible for wThat has happened. And that’s basically what the Australian justice system has done.”
Biddy’s father Dominic Porter (pictured), who suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder following his daughter’s death, feels let down by the justice system and is campaigning for changes to victims’ rights.
Porter said the PPD was a “force of its own” that paid little attention to victims’ wishes.
“They make decisions, they make changes, they do what they want and none of that takes into account the victim’s perspective,” he said.
“It’s about protecting the murderer or the perpetrator and your best interests.’
It’s a view supported by Biddy’s mother and Mr. Porter’s ex-wife, Rebekah, who said on a recent episode of Spotlight that the family was not given access to important court documents.
‘We had a brief meeting with the Public Prosecutor’s Office before going to trial, and they convinced us that the best course of action would be to carry out the proven but not criminally responsible act due to mental illness because it would mean that she would spend a lot more time in custody.’ , he told the program.
Porter and his ex-wife Rebekah are understood to have had around 90 meetings with the PDP.
But Porter insists the system needs to be “overhauled” to better support victims.
‘I want to change the rights of victims. “I don’t want any other family to go through what we have gone through,” he said.
‘I don’t want to blow smoke up my own chimney, so to speak, but I come from a fairly highly educated family. My dad is a clinical psychologist.
‘We have an extraordinary level of resources, but that doesn’t make it any easier. We were unable to navigate the system.
‘But what happens when something like this happens to a family of lower socioeconomic status?
Mr Porter was a very successful bank manager, but is now unable to work and relies on Centrelink benefits.
“I was a very successful bank manager for most of my career and now I can’t work,” he said.
Biddy’s mother, Rebekah (pictured), who said on a recent episode of Spotlight that the family did not have access to important court documents.
‘I’m stuck. “It’s completely paralyzing.”
Porter claims his treatment by the criminal justice system “wouldn’t pass the pub test”.
“I could walk into any pub in Australia right now, today, next year, next week in five years and explain my story,” he said.
—And would the Australian or the woman sitting at the bar believe what I’ve been through? No, they wouldn’t.
And he added: “I will fight until the day I die.” That’s what Bridget would have wanted.
Biddy’s parents, who are separated, are supported by Advocacy Australia in their campaign for justice.
“Sadly, Biddy’s family’s circumstances are not unique,” said Clare Collins, president of Advocacy Australia.
“With a gulf of inequality between victims of heinous crimes and their perpetrators, there is something terribly wrong when NSW government agencies with responsibility for upholding victims’ rights fail to meet community expectations.”
Advocacy Australia is also calling for a forensic inquiry to investigate whether Biddy’s murder could have been prevented.
The PPD issued a statement in response to the Spotlight interview in which they expressed sympathy for Biddy’s parents but defended their approach.
“The Office maintained regular and ongoing contact with the family, answered their questions wherever possible and at every stage took their views into account,” the spokesperson said.
They added: ‘The different approaches and possible outcomes were discussed with the family before the Crown determined how to proceed.
“The family told the ODPP that they preferred to proceed with a special verdict, where the key issue for the court was whether the defendant had a mental disability defense available.”
The spokesman said that if a special verdict had not been returned, Biddy’s killer would likely have been “sentenced for involuntary manslaughter on the basis of substantial deterioration due to mental illness.”
And since the perpetrator was a child, “the law also recognizes that the younger a child is, the less his moral culpability, which would further reduce the length of any sentence imposed.”
“Where an accused is charged with murder, but his mental incapacity leads the court to make a special verdict of an act proven but not criminally responsible, he is placed in the custody of the Mental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT) as a forensic patient until “They are considered appropriate for release,” the spokesperson added.
‘This involves considering a number of factors, including whether their release would endanger themselves or others.
‘Similar considerations arise when the MHRT considers daytime release. These are not decisions involving the ODPP.’
Daily Mail Australia has approached the Public Prosecution Service for further comment.
An MHRT spokesperson said it does not “comment on the details of any patient outside of the hearing/review process”.