The defence lawyer for the man who murdered Molly Ticehurst has blamed prosecutors for delays in the case as the long wait for justice causes her grieving family more heartache.
Ms Ticehurst, a 28-year-old childcare educator, was found dead in her home at Forbes, in central western NSW, in the early hours of April 22, 2024.
Her ex-boyfriend Daniel Billings stabbed her 15 times in a ferocious attack after repeatedly threatening to break into her bedroom and kill her.
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He had earlier been arrested and charged with several counts of raping Ms Ticehurst and domestic violence offences, but was freed on bail by a local court registrar on April 6, 2024.
After 18 months of repeated adjournments in the case that garnered national attention, Billings pleaded guilty to Ms Ticehurst’s domestic violence murder at Forbes Local Court in November.
The sexual assault charges were dropped at the same time.
Billings was due to be sentenced in June but the case was delayed again in May after evidence from defence expert, forensic psychiatrist Olav Nielssen, that Billings had a depressive illness at the time of the murder.
The finding was partly based on statements Billings made in letters and videos, saying he planned to take his own life after murdering Ms Ticehurst.
That sparked confusion about whether Billings could be tried for manslaughter and rely on a defence of substantial impairment.
But at the May hearing in the NSW Supreme Court, public defender Sarah Talbert said Billings wanted to be sentenced as soon as possible on the murder charge.
The mental health evidence would only be relied on for sentencing, which the defence said could happen as early as August, the court was told.
But the Crown sought a September sentence date to allow an expert to view 1200 pages of medical documents, after Billings refused to see a psychiatrist engaged by the prosecution.
On Monday, the court released an affidavit by senior Legal Aid solicitor Diane Elston that said the defence did not have to disclose the mental health evidence to prosecutors any earlier.
Billings never intended to use it as a defence, Ms Elston said.
The Crown contacted three psychiatrists for their sentencing submissions, but none could complete a report until late August, Ms Elston said.
Ms Elston stated that she was able to find several other experts.
“There are at least 43 other forensic psychiatrists, which I was able to locate the names of with relative ease, that the Crown could have contacted to secure an expert opinion at the earliest opportunity.”
One expert contacted by Ms Elston said he could potentially prepare a report for the Crown by early August
Ms Elston said she was the only solicitor assigned to the case and had worked through several leave periods to avoid delays.
The Crown had two solicitors on the case, she said.
She also briefly referred to recent cuts to Legal Aid funding.
The wait has long frustrated Ms Ticehurst’s family.
In late 2025, Ms Ticehurst’s father Tony Ticehurst said lengthy negotiations caused their family “anxiety, sadness and heartache”.
Justice Natalie Adams on Monday brought Billings’ sentence hearing forward to September 3 to allow Dr Neilssen to give evidence before he goes overseas.
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