Carol Micallef remembers almost every excruciating detail of being told her 18-year-old son Bailey Jones had been stabbed in the heart.
Her final interaction with Jones was watching him drive off to hang out with his friends and cousin, Dominic Saliba, the night before he was killed and yelling from his car “I love you”.
“Bailey was such a special, special young boy — everyone says this about their kids, but he had a smile that lit up every room he entered,” Micallef told 7NEWS.com.au.
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“We were like two peas in a pod … the love was so deep.”
She remembers racing to the hospital with Jones’s stepfather Lawrence Micallef the following night, saying her final goodbyes to his body on a morgue table, the subsequent police investigation and hearing his final moments recounted while sitting in court every day during a gruelling trial.
Saliba, then aged 20, was found to have lost his temper while playfighting with the teen before stabbing him to death at a home in Bomaderry, on the NSW South Coast, about 9pm on December 9, 2022.
At the time, Saliba had recently served just months of a two-year intensive corrections order (ICO) for an armed robbery.
Prosecutors failed in pursuing a murder charge for Saliba, who was instead found guilty of manslaughter by the Supreme Court of NSW on June 30, 2025.
Carol Micallef with her son, Bailey Jones. Credit: Carol Micallef
He was sentenced to a maximum of seven years and nine months behind bars — one year and five months of which involved the revocation of the ICO — and is eligible for parole on July 21, 2027.
“A great deal of trauma, upset and anger has flowed from the offender’s act, resulting in the death of Jones,” Justice Dina Yehia said during sentencing.
“That trauma will have long-lasting impact although the court hopes that, with the passage of time, those affected by the killing will find comfort in their personal and familial relationships.”
Jones had recently turned 18 when he was stabbed in the heart by his cousin, who was serving an intensive corrections order at the time. Credit: Carol Micallef
But Micallef found little to no relief in the sentence and in the year since has used her lasting pain as inspiration to call for an overhaul of how criminals serve sentences in the community.
She remembers her son saying in the weeks before his death that he was going to be remembered and she is determined to make it a reality with a petition named Bailey’s Law.
The petition calls on the NSW Parliament to introduce more strict measures for those granted an ICO or a community corrections order (CCO).
They include random in-person checks from police, electronic ankle bracelet tracking, harsher eligibility for violent and repeat offenders, regular social media monitoring and random drug and alcohol testing.
Micallef said her son’s case revealed “serious flaws in how ICOs are applied, particularly for violent and repeat offenders”.
“ICO must no longer be seen as a ‘soft option’ but as a tool of justice that protects the community,” she said.
“Home detention, corrections orders and bail are different parts of the justice system that all relate to managing the risk in the community.
“Bailey’s law will seek improvements where those systems are not adequately protecting the public from known repeat offenders.”
Micallef has since launched a petition, called Bailey’s Law, calling on the NSW Government to strengthen conditions for offenders serving sentences in the community. Credit: Carol Micallef
While she will “never forgive” Saliba, Micallef added the petition is not aimed at getting revenge but instead about preventing other people from experiencing the pain she’s felt.
It has since been spread across social media with more than 19,000 people signing their support in four weeks — just under the required 20,000 signatures to be heard before parliament.
“I thought I would get backlash and people being negative, but everyone is positive,” Micallef said.
“They’ have liked and shared, saying: ‘We’re so sorry … please, we need change’.”
The widespread attention has also opened Micallef up to dozens of people who have come forward to tell her their stories of friends or loved ones who have been hurt or killed by someone serving a corrections order.
“Bailey’s law needs to be in place for people like him … everything I’ve asked for, I’m demanding because my son’s life deserves better,” she said.
“His life might not be saved, but he can save others.
“And all these victims that are reaching out, it shows me that (the orders) are seriously flawed.”
Micallef now hopes to far surpass the 20,000 signature mark and is instead hoping to reach 40,000 to ensure the “attorney general can see how much of NSW wants this change, needs this change”.
