The parents of a 10-year-old girl who was brutally murdered by her teenage cousin said they are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after learning the gruesome details of their daughter’s death.
Rebekah and Dominic Porter have spoken out about the tragic murder of their daughter Bridgette, who was fatally attacked on a family farm in Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia, in July 2020.
Speaking in a 7NEWS In the documentary, the grieving couple revealed they have been diagnosed with PTSD and neither of them have been able to work since the horrific incident.
Her young daughter, nicknamed Biddy, had travelled 350 kilometres from her home in Orange to stay with relatives during the school holidays.
There, she was stabbed to death by her unnamed cousin, who was 14 years old at the time.
The parents of 10-year-old Bridget Porter, who was killed by her then 14-year-old cousin, say they are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after hearing details of their daughter’s death.
The girl’s injuries are believed to have been so severe that her father revealed a forensic social worker told him “we’re in the process of reconstructing Bridget” at the crime scene.
“At the funeral I was specifically told that I could only touch her foot because if I touched any other part of her, she would fall apart,” Dominic said.
Speaking about the circumstances that led to Biddy going to her cousin’s farm in 2020, Rebekah said: ‘About four days before, I dropped Bridget off at my parents’ house, and she was actually due to stay with them. But my parents had an appointment, so it was decided that she would go to the farm.
“She was supposed to stay there for a week and then go back to her mom and dad’s house. My kids have been there all their lives, it was a happy place, a fun place, it’s a farm, it’s the countryside, there are animals.”
However, unbeknownst to Biddy’s mother, long before the 10-year-old arrived at the farm, there had been disturbing behavior on the part of the 14-year-old.
A few weeks earlier, the killer had told his mother that he often thought about killing her and his father.
The teenager’s mother sought psychiatric help in a telephone consultation with her GP, but was still waiting for a call when Biddy was killed.
In the run-up to the brutal attack, the 14-year-old had killed six of her mother’s chickens on the farm because “she felt like it”, weeks before Biddy came to stay.
Dominic Porter has spoken out about the tragic murder of his daughter Bridget, on a relative’s farm in Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia, in July 2020.
Rebekah, who was diagnosed with late-onset PTSD 18 months after her daughter’s murder, said she was given three months of paid leave from work but was unable to return because of her trauma.
He had a fascination with edged weapons and had a collection of four knives, a small axe and a Tomahawk, which his father had given him, in his room.
In his diary he wrote: “I fantasize about killing people all the time, not sometimes, but all the time. Every free moment I have is spent planning and thinking about killing someone. I will kill my mother; I will kill her by stabbing her in the back and slitting her throat, but the fun only begins when I get to my sister.”
Dominic said: ‘I often use the analogy: ‘You left my daughter alone with a dangerous animal, like a lion, and put her in a room and hoped nothing would happen. ‘ If I had a child in my care, I would have a duty of care to ensure their safety and that was definitely not done.
In police interviews, the killer claimed she became frustrated with Biddy when he called her “creepy” and said she should be in “a mental hospital.”
The next day, while the cousins were playing hide and seek on the farm, Biddy revealed to her relatives that she burst into tears and cried because her cousin was chasing her with a knife.
According to her diary, the 14-year-old had planned to attack her father with her knife later that night, but it is unknown why she never carried out that attack.
The next morning, her parents left the family home to milk a cow on the farm, leaving their niece home alone with her murderous daughter.
According to police reports, he eventually entered Biddy’s room, slit her throat and carved words into her body.
Rebekah, who was diagnosed with late-onset PTSD 18 months after her daughter’s murder, said she was given three months of paid leave from work but was unable to return because of her trauma.
The teenager was arrested and taken to Gunnedah Police Station, where she spent the day with medical experts and local detectives. She was found guilty of murder, but not criminally responsible in 2021.
She said: ‘I was in complete shock, to the point where I couldn’t dress or feed myself, my partner had to dress me and encourage me to eat.
‘When the detectives arrived and I asked them what had happened, I felt like I was living in a horror movie. I couldn’t believe it, it was so horrible, I couldn’t understand it, it seemed evil to me, as if I was living in a horror movie script.
‘I just prayed, I wished for any other death for my daughter, I thought if she died any other way than this, if she had to die, why couldn’t it be in a car accident or drowning or from an illness instead of having to end her life in such a brutal way, that most adults couldn’t cope with or endure, and she had to endure that as a child.’
Meanwhile, Biddy’s father also spoke about his PTSD over his daughter’s murder.
He said: “I met a lot of veterans… and they all say that their story is much more traumatic than theirs, and my answer is always the same: each person’s trauma is their own trauma.”
The teenager was arrested and taken to Gunnedah Police Station, where she spent the day with medical experts and local detectives. She was found guilty of murder, but not criminally responsible in 2021.
She is currently being treated at a forensic health centre and her identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
Under New South Wales law, the name of a child murder victim cannot be published or broadcast without the consent of his or her next of kin.
The Porters have given the ABC permission to use Bridgette’s name and image, but want a legislative change to ensure the victim’s identity is not automatically suppressed.
Rebecca told him ABC‘Bridgette’s memory should be honoured, her legacy should be honoured. I think it’s really disrespectful to suppress victims of serious crimes.’