Man who murdered Molly Ticehurst learns his fate
Stephanie Gardiner |
Molly Ticehurst’s ex-boyfriend will spend at least 20 years in jail for her senseless and brutal murder, which was revenge for her reporting allegations of sexual assault to police.
Daniel Billings stood calm and expressionless when the sentence was handed down in the NSW Supreme Court in Orange on Friday morning.
Ms Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare worker, was found dead in her pyjamas at her home at Forbes, in the state’s central west, in the early hours of April 22, 2024.
Billings, her former boyfriend, broke into her bedroom and used a hunting knife to stab her 15 times in a ferocious attack that lasted less than a minute.
Justice Natalie Adams found Billings’ offending was in the high range of seriousness, given he murdered her in the exact way he had long threatened to do.
“It must have been absolutely terrifying for Ms Ticehurst to die knowing her worst fears were realised,” Justice Adams said.
The 31-year-old former mine worker had repeatedly threatened to smash into Ms Ticehurst’s bedroom and kill her in the months after she ended their on-and-off relationship in December 2023, according to police documents.
Ms Ticehurst reported this abuse to the police, who charged him with several counts of sexual assault and a series of domestic violence stalking and intimidation charges.
He was also charged with killing Ms Ticehurst’s dachshund puppy with a hammer after an earlier break-up.
Police took out a provisional apprehended violence order against Billings, barring him from entering Forbes.
Billings, who previously lived in Dalby, Queensland, spent one night in police custody, but was freed on bail by a local court registrar a fortnight before the murder as there was no judge on duty that weekend.
Upon his conditional release, Billings became enraged and obsessed with a belief he had been wrongfully accused of rape.
He viewed himself as a victim of injustice, also angered by his claim police threw his Queensland State of Origin boxing team singlet in the dirt.
In a series of chilling videos Billings recorded on his phone in the hours before the murder, he detailed his plans of harming Ms Ticehurst in revenge.
“Molly Jean Ticehurst, well, you’ve done it, you’ve succeeded in whatever you wanted out of all of this, whether I get to you tonight or not,” Billings snarled in one of the recordings made on the afternoon of April 21.
Justice Natalie Adams sentenced Billings to a maximum term of 28 years for what she described as a brutal attack.
She found Billings acted out of retribution, revenge and “extreme hatred” for Ms Ticehurst, angry after she reported the rape allegations.
The murder was also a serious public justice offence, as Billings killed the only witness in his potential rape trial, the judge said.
Justice Adams looked to the Ticehurst family and offered her condolences.
“It is clear that Molly’s senseless death has had a significant impact on those who loved her.”
Gaby Shepherd held up a large image of her slain friend when Billings entered the courtroom and sat in the dock.
He did not look in her direction, instead staring straight ahead and shaking his head any time the sexual assault allegations were mentioned by the judge.
Prosecutors did not seek a life sentence for Billings.
Billings pleaded guilty to murder after more than 500 days of legal negotiations, which led to the sexual assault charges being dropped in November 2025.
Charges of property damage, the animal cruelty offence and breaching the apprehended violence order were taken into consideration in the sentence.
Ms Ticehurst’s murder intensified a national campaign against domestic and gendered violence.
The movement sparked changes to NSW laws, including stripping registrars of the power to grant bail, “show cause” thresholds for domestic violence-related bail applications and electronic monitoring for accused people.
Billings will be eligible for parole in April 2044.
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AAP