The mother of a woman who was murdered by her boyfriend has slammed the legal system for failing her daughter.
Melbourne woman Saasha Brimble lost Jessica Geddes, 27, to her daughter’s violent and controlling partner, Robert Rickerby, 30, on November 6, 2020.
Rickerby was charged with murder before the charge was downgraded to manslaughter on the eve of his trial in May, after reaching a deal with prosecutors and pleading guilty.
Brimble said her daughter had tried to alert authorities several times because she was physically and verbally abused, isolated and starved.
The mother claimed she was once on the phone with her daughter, who had a child of her own, and could hear Rickerby threatening and abusing her loved one.
He said Rickerby had threatened to send Brimble back to his parents in a body bag. Days later she was found dead in her Endeavor Hills home.
Sarah Brimble (pictured with her granddaughter Arianna-Leigh at the funeral of her eldest daughter Jessica Geddes) said police failed her daughter and other women after it took 18 months to charge Rickerby with murder, following the media attention.
Jessica Geddes, 27 (pictured), had been isolated and starved by her boyfriend, who also accepted her Centrelink payments and abused and assaulted her over a three-year period.
“A detective told me that my daughter could still be alive if (the police) did their job right,” Brimble told the Herald of the sun.
During the volatile relationship, Geddes had alerted police, hospital staff, friends, neighbors and a 7-Eleven worker about her boyfriend’s abuse, but it fell on deaf ears.
Rickerby will face a Supreme Court hearing on Monday where he will come face to face with Brimble, as prosecutors argue their case before sentencing.
Mrs Geddes suffered more than 50 skeletal injuries, according to a post-mortem examination.
Court documents stated the 27-year-old’s injuries included 16 rib fractures, four fractures to his vertebrae and 10 fractures to both hands.
The injuries were found to have occurred over “days, weeks, months and possibly years” and were not self-inflicted or treated, according to a forensic pathologist.
Brimble, who described her daughter as cheerful and motivated, said the 27-year-old was living in Queensland when she met Rickerby on a dating site in 2017.
Within days, he had “taken” Mrs Geddes to Victoria, leaving behind their five-year-old daughter Arianna-Leigh.
Over the course of the next three years, Jessica was beaten, isolated, and starved.
Rickerby took control of her life, claiming Centrelink payments for himself and ensuring she had no money to buy food, clothing or personal items.
Before Mrs Geddes met Rickerby she weighed a healthy 79kg, but by the time of her death her weight had dropped to an alarming 46kg.
Robert Rickerby (pictured) was accused of murdering his girlfriend Jessica Geddes, whom he met on a dating app. But he recently took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
‘I was breaking up my girl. She was slowly breaking it down,” Brimble said.
The mother said her daughter had struggled with mental health issues and had not told any of her loved ones the address of where she lived.
“I would have been there in a heartbeat, but I didn’t know where she lived until four days before she passed away. I would have had a team with me, a squad with me trying to get her,” he said.
The mother said she felt like her “hands were tied” because she couldn’t call the police and tell them an address to go to help her daughter.
But Ms Geddes herself showed moments of bravery, such as in September 2019, when she went to her friend’s house after an incident left her with blood flowing from a large gash on her forehead.
Geddes’ friend called police after she told them Rickerby had assaulted her.
The 27-year-old woman told officers that Rickerby had punched her several times and hit her in the head with a hammer, and she said it wasn’t the first time he had attacked her.
Although Rickerby was arrested, he denied assaulting his girlfriend and claimed Mrs Geddes was prone to self-harm.
He ended up not being charged for the incident, despite police preparing a brief of evidence.
He later told a friend that he had hit Geddes that day.
Brimble, who ran a Facebook campaign to get justice for her daughter, said the system had failed her eldest daughter and other women as well.
The mother feels that the police did not want to know about the case because her daughter was not “a rich, elite woman.”
Brimble also believes that without speaking to the media, an arrest may never have been made, which came eight days after she first brought media attention to her daughter’s death.