Bridgette \u201cBiddy\u201d Porter\u2019s parents have described how they were lost in insurmountable heartbreak and grief following the 10-year-old\u2019s horrific killing and how birthdays and special occasions now serve as a reminder of the future that was stolen from them.<\/p>\n
Bridgette, 10, was killed by a teenage girl \u2013 who can only be known as XR \u2013 at a home in northern central NSW on July 8, 2020 in an incident which shocked the state.<\/p>\n
A coronial inquest is examining her killing and XR\u2019s mental health, including whether any red flags were missed that could have averted the tragedy.<\/p>\n
Both parents delivered heartbreaking statements to the court on Thursday afternoon, telling the court of their grief which had stayed with them every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, almost six years have passed, and the pain, sorrow and suffering remain ever present every minute of every day,\u201d Bridgette\u2019s mother Rebekah Keukenmeester told the court in a video statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no rest from the heartbreak.\u201d <\/p>\n
She said her life had \u201cdissolved into a cavernous pit of darkness\u201d and that the tragedy had torn her family apart.<\/p>\n
She said she had been overwhelmed by guilt at her daughter\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I could have protected her \u2026 I wish I could have held her, comforted her as she left this world,\u201d Ms Keukenmeester said.<\/p>\n
She said that: \u201cI\u2019ve watched her friends grow and celebrate milestones, going to high school, having their first boyfriends, and pursuing their dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, she said, her daughter remains \u201cfrozen in time\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said that occasions such as birthdays and Christmas were now \u201ca painful reminder of my unthinkable loss\u201d.<\/p>\n
She and Bridgette\u2019s father, Dominic Porter, described \u201cBiddy\u201d as a kind, creative, caring soul who lit up a room and dreamed of being a journalist and travelling the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe should have had birthdays, she should have finished primary school and now be facing up to high school,\u201d Mr Porter said.<\/p>\n
Bridgette\u2019s family have for years lobbied for the inquest, which they hope will bring systematic change.<\/p>\n
Mr Porter told of how he had been forced to navigate a legal system – including pushing to have a court non-publication order lifted so that Bridgette could be named and her story heard – while also dealing with his grief and trauma.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost a future I was supposed to have as Biddy\u2019s father. No parent should have to bury their child,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
XR was found to be experiencing a psychotic episode at the time and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, with a court being told on Thursday that she was now likely to be medicated for the rest of her life after developing a severe form of the disorder.<\/p>\n
She was charged with murder before the NSW Supreme Court and in 2021 entered a special verdict of acts proven but not criminally responsible due to mental illness.<\/p>\n
XR remains in custody in juvenile detention, the court has been told.Forensic psychiatrist Olav Nielssen on Thursday told the court that at the time of the killing, XR was in the midst of the early onset of schizophrenia.<\/p>\n
He said it was rare for a 14-year-old to develop schizophrenia, with the onset typically being in the late teens or early 20s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely, extremely rare for a 14-year-old girl to develop psychosis and kill someone,\u201d counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I don\u2019t know of another case,\u201d Dr Nielssen told the court.<\/p>\n
The court has been told details of XR\u2019s behaviour in the years and months leading up to the killing, including in June 2019 when she slaughtered six chickens.<\/p>\n
The court was previously told details of one of XR\u2019s diary entries in which she said she fantasised about killing people, including her family, that she saw a \u201ccreepy cat\u2019s eye\u201d when in a dark room and heard a voice telling her to kill.<\/p>\n
Ms Dwyer also told the inquest that XR\u2019s mother had told police that she was left \u201chorrified\u201d about two weeks before the killing when the 14-year-old made a series of disclosures to her.<\/p>\n
The court was told that XR told her mother \u201cI think about killing people all the time\u201d and on the day that she killed the chickens, she had thought about killing her parents in their sleep.<\/p>\n
She also told the mother that she heard voices that told her \u201c\u2018if you kill something, it will be OK,\u201d the court was told. <\/p>\n
The incident prompted XR\u2019s mother to consult with a general practitioner with the intention of getting a referral to a psychiatrist.<\/p>\n
The doctor faxed a referral to a Sydney-based psychiatrist; however, an appointment was not made before the killing, the court was told.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those circumstances if you were advising the community about what to do, what should a parent in those circumstances do?\u201d Ms Dwyer asked.<\/p>\n
Dr Nielssen said the symptoms indicated that XR needed \u201curgent medical attention\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court has been told that at the time hospital resources were stretched because of the Covid lockdowns, and psychiatric appointments sometimes take months in rural communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bridgette \u201cBiddy\u201d Porter\u2019s parents have described how they were lost in insurmountable heartbreak and grief following the 10-year-old\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,185009],"class_list":["post-744603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-newswire-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}