Melissa Ashfield witnessed her mother and stepfather murder her brother. Now, as the stepfather is about to be released, Melissa talks to Glen Williams.
It’s little wonder Melissa Ashfield is a haunted and tortured soul. Sixteen years ago, as a terrified toddler, she was forced by her sadistic parents to watch as they set about bashing to death her six-year-old brother, John.
It was a crime that left Australia reeling. How could a parent, let alone both mum and dad, possibly unleash such evil, such boundless cruelty on their own child? The memory of the three-hour ordeal on that terrible day in August 1993 still stirs up nightmares in the troubled 19-year-old.
Melissa’s mother, Gunn-Britt Ashfield, and her stepfather, Austin Hughes, were jailed for 21 years for John’s murder. Their sentences were reduced on appeal to 19 years with a non-parole period of 14 years.
Since the murder, Melissa and her siblings have spent their lives in foster homes and institutions and refuges. They have been split up – all the while enduring the trauma of what they saw inside their Nowra, NSW, home all those years ago.
“We feel like we’ve been punished,” Melissa says, blinking back tears. “We’ve been punished pretty much all our lives. DOCS wouldn’t let us stay with our real father, they wouldn’t let us stay with aunties and uncles. They took us away.”
And now comes the news that the NSW State Parole Authority think it’s “in the community’s best interests” for Austin Hughes to walk free. And Melissa’s mother, who has changed her name to Anjelic Karstrom, can reapply for parole next May.
“I’m angry, upset and hurt,” says Melissa, who waived her statutory right to anonymity to speak to Woman’s Day in the hope that her story might help to keep Hughes behind bars. Her siblings now live in another state and remain anonymous, desperate to put the nightmare behind them.
“My siblings are really struggling with this very badly. They are trying to move on. Austin gets to come out and celebrate Christmas and the fact is we have not been able to celebrate Christmas since my brother was murdered.
“Austin is not remorseful. The only time he’s shown remorse is when he is up for parole. If he was remorseful he could easily have written to me or my siblings saying he was sorry.”
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