By Madeleine Morris
Rikki Schmidt’s memories of the day her sister, Tara Costigan, was murdered with an axe are still clear.
It was February 2015 and Tara’s ex-partner Marcus Rappel burst into the home they had shared in a violent rage.
“He was just screaming. He was yelling. He wasn’t saying anything at all,” Ms Schmidt, who was injured in the attack, told 7.30.
“He didn’t even shut his door or shut off his car.
“When I saw his face I knew that he was a completely different person.
“He wasn’t the person that I knew. [His face looked like] pure evil.”
Tara Costigan murdered one day after taking out DVO
The violent murder shocked Australia.
Just seven days earlier Ms Costigan had given birth to a baby daughter, Ayla.
Rappel was the father, but the day before she was killed she took out a domestic violence order (DVO) against him, having seen his behaviour became increasingly threatening.
Ms Costigan’s grandmother, Margaret Costigan, said Tara had become increasingly isolated from the family in the months preceding her death.
“I could see it was … leading to a type of verbal domestic violence,” she said.
“She wasn’t messaging me, she wasn’t ringing me, she wasn’t coming to see me.
“She was sort of cutting herself off.”
A court this week heard Rappel had a history of threatening girlfriends.
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Top Comments
God, these men make me so f*cking furious. A woman does something to ensure that you are not legally allowed to contact her, and your masculinity is so fragile, on such tenterhooks, that your response is to kill her in the most violent and frightening way possible.
I am morally against the death penalty, but gosh, cases like this really do test my resolve.
Again we wet ourselves about perceived Muslim terrorism while ignoring the elephant in the room of domestic violence
Well said. My thoughts exactly.
It's not being ignored.
There are stories about it all over the place.
Not compared to terrorism
Awareness is important but not enough is being done to combat DV.
I will never forget being 11 and my mother's best friend knocking politely on our front door late one evening, she was so calm and collected as she came into our house and into the light, we saw that she had been attacked. My mother took her into her bedroom and tended to her - there was not one part of her body that wasn't covered in bruises. She was literally black and blue from head to toe. I look back and so much enters my head, I feel horrified that her husband, who was always so nice, could do that to her. One thing I am happy about is that my parents, especially my mum did not try to shield me from what happened that night and even though at the time I found it incredibly painful to see, it taught me so much about DV. I know that if DV could happen to my mum's friend that DV can happen to any woman.