A spokesperson confirmed that prosecutors chose not to appeal the sentence imposed on the man found guilty of killing Molly Ticehurst — a case that drew significant public attention to domestic violence — with that decision made in accordance with established prosecution guidelines. Publication of a government report examining the childcare worker's contact with domestic violence services — she was 28 years old at the time — had been held back pending the conclusion of legal proceedings.
Following Billings's sentencing, Kate Shaw — whose daughter Ms Ticehurst was her only child — urged Premier Chris Minns to release the report into Ms Ticehurst's contact with the Staying Home Leaving Violence programme, a government initiative designed to help victims improve their home security. Shaw also conveyed that Ms Ticehurst is mourned by herself, by Ms Ticehurst's father Tony, by her son, and by a broad network of family and friends.
In sentencing Billings to a non-parole period of 20 years, Justice Natalie Adams determined that the killing of his former girlfriend was carried out in retribution for her reporting allegations of sexual assault to police, with the judge citing hatred and a desire for revenge as the driving factors behind the offence.
Around 11:30 pm on 21 April 2024, Billings — who had worked in the mining industry — forced entry through Ms Ticehurst's bedroom window at her Forbes property and inflicted 15 stab wounds upon her. Over the months following Ms Ticehurst's decision to end their intermittent relationship in December 2023, the 31-year-old made a series of threats to force entry into her home and cause her death.
A complaint lodged with police by Ms Ticehurst in early April 2024 resulted in multiple charges against him, spanning sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, and intimidation. Bail was granted by a court registrar — no judge having been available over the weekend — and Billings left custody, with roughly a fortnight still to pass before the killing occurred. Following his conditional release, Billings developed what prosecutors told the court was a fixation on the conviction he considered unjust, and that fixation, the court was informed, ultimately led him to devise a plan to kill her.
Prosecutors opted against pursuing a life sentence in the case against Billings. Prosecutors put forward the position that his degree of responsibility sat toward the higher end of the culpability spectrum, and on that basis called on the judge to withhold the 25 per cent sentencing reduction that legislation ties to an early guilty plea entered in the local court. Justice Adams noted that no precedent existed anywhere in the state's legal record for a court to strip away the early-plea sentencing reduction in its entirety.
In sentencing, the judge determined that Billings's upbringing — marked by deprivation and its lasting psychological effects — placed limits on the degree of moral responsibility he could be held to bear. A 20 per cent reduction in the potential maximum term of 35 years left Billings facing a sentence seven years shorter than the upper limit the court could have imposed.
On multiple occasions during the proceedings, the judge raised the intricacies of sentencing law, noting among other things that a 25 per cent reduction awarded for early guilty pleas can amount to a substantial period of time when the underlying sentence is lengthy. Objections to the statement came from multiple quarters, with the premier among those who voiced opposition.
Philip Donato, the Orange MP who has been advocating for life sentences in domestic violence killings, described the decision not to pursue an appeal as unsurprising, though he took issue with it, arguing that the case represented as grave an instance of domestic violence homicide as any he could point to. Under the terms of his sentence, Billings would not become eligible for parole until he reaches the age of 49.
