- Kevin Jr couldn’t work out why his dad’s girlfriend, Rachel Smithers didn’t seem to like him when they first met
- She and his dad had an on and off relationship and neighbours often reported hearing her smashing up their house when she stopped taking her medication
- After they’d split up, Kevin’s dad heard Rachel had lost her home and he offered for her to move in with him until she got back on her feet
- One night, Rachel attacked Kevin’s father with a carving knife. She stabbed him as he slept and left him to die on the footpath after he’d attempted to flee
- Kevin Crumblin Jr, from Logan, Qld., shares his harrowing story…
Loud knocking snapped me awake.
“Someone get the door,” I called out from bed.
It was 8am on Father’s Day 2020, and I’d hoped to have a bit of a lie in.
Above the racket, I heard a stern male voice asking if I was at home.
I jumped up and quickly threw on some clothes.
Sprinting down the hall, I was shocked to see two police officers standing there.
Read more: Her evil ex murdered her kids for revenge
“Mr Crumblin,” said one officer, “please step away from the house.”
My blood ran cold as I moved to the front lawn.
In hushed tones, they informed me that my father, Kevin Crumblin Snr, 50, had died earlier that morning.
He’d been stabbed multiple times at his home and suffered fatal wounds to his head and body.
There were few details – an investigation was underway.
After they left, I went inside and broke down.
My partner, Kiarni, 29, held me as I sobbed.
Telling our kids, Tahlia, 11, Riley, seven, Jordan, five, and Miela, four, that their beloved ‘Poppy’ was gone was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do.
They had so many questions and I had no concrete answers. But I did have my suspicions…
In 2009, when I was 18, I met up with Dad for a pub lunch. We sat down and he introduced me to his partner, Rachel, 31, and my new half-sister, Millie, one. Their other daughter, Eve, two-and-a-half,
who I’d met previously, was there that day, too.
“Great to meet you,” I smiled, giving them a friendly nod.
Rachel was cold and seemed to dislike me.
I couldn’t put my finger on why.
Dad explained she had bipolar disorder.
“It sometimes changes her mood and behaviour,” he said, smiling weakly.
Her condition worried me.
Six months later, I needed a place to stay for a while so I moved in with Dad.
He and Rachel had split up – as they often did.
While I was there, Dad’s neighbours told me that Rachel sometimes stopped taking her medication and smashed up the house from time to time.
I also found out that she’d attacked Dad with a beer glass and cut open his face, which had required stitches.
Dad eventually told me what happened. The police had been called afterwards, and Rachel was put on a domestic violence order.
I tried talking to him about getting some help, but he could only see the good in her.
Four months later, just as I was moving out and into a place of my own, Dad rekindled his relationship with Rachel and became the victim of more acts of violence.
Each time they separated, I hoped it was for good this time.
In 2020, Riley, Jordan, Dad and I went on an impromptu boys’ trip for the weekend.
We took Dad’s tinny to his favourite fishing spot, Somerset Dam.
My old man was an ace fisherman, but after one too many beers, he fell over the side of the shallow boat and we couldn’t lug him back.
Instead, he held on as we rowed the tinny back to shore in fits of laughter.
Soon after, Dad told me over a beer that Rachel had lost her home and temporarily moved back in with him.
“I want to help her get back on her feet,” he said.
I was shocked.
“She has nowhere to go,” he continued forlornly.
“There are refuges that that would take her,” I snapped at him.
He wouldn’t hear of it.
A month on from that happy day, he was gone. On September 6, 2020, Rachel was arrested and charged with Dad’s murder. She’d stabbed Dad as he slept.
In 2022, the charge was downgraded after it was found she had a partial defence of diminished responsibility because she was suffering from a severe psychotic illness at the time of the attack.
When the case finally went to court in 2023, Smithers pleaded guilty to manslaughter and contravening a domestic violence order.
The court heard how she had attacked my father with a carving knife while he was sleeping in the living room. She forcefully stabbed him as he slept – three times in the head, four times in the torso and five times in the right forearm. Dad attempted to flee, making it outside his home.
Tragically, moments later, he died on the footpath.
Eve and Millie were asleep in their bedroom at the time.
Justice Callaghan called the attack “a sickening act of violence”.
Rachel Maree Smithers, 45, was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison. With time served in remand, she’ll be eligible for parole in September 2025.
The sentence feels like a kick in the teeth.
Rachel says she’s “horrified” by what she did that night, but that doesn’t bring my father back.
Now, all I have to cherish are memories of him.
I learned to accept Dad just as he was. He had his faults, for sure, but he was a hardworking man with a kind heart.
With Kiarni’s unwavering support, we decided to become my half-sisters’ full-time carers. They’re family, after all.
Millie’s 11 now and Eve’s 15. They have some difficult days – we all do – but we keep working to find bright spots of joy.
In November last year, Kiarni and I got married. We were surrounded by all six kids and it felt like Dad was with us in spirit.
He loved green frogs, and on our wedding day, we were delighted to find a green tree frog had appeared on the steps of the wedding venue.
Our family is slowly starting to heal. It’s going to take a lifetime.
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