The father of a woman beaten to death in a Melbourne park is seeking justice for his daughter, and is suing Corrections Victoria for alleged negligence in letting her killer walk free the month prior to her murder.

Lawyer John Herron is now suing the former Commissioner for Corrections Victoria for alleged negligence over the release of Henry Hammond from custody the month before he brutally murdered 25-year-old Courtney (Konstandina) Herron in May 2019 while caught in the grip of schizophrenia.

A writ was lodged in Victoria’s Supreme Court last week. Mr Herron said that not only did Corrections Victoria release Hammond on appeal against a 10-month jail sentence for offences which included making a threat to kill, but there was also negligent supervision of Hammond while he was on the order as he lacked family support, had refused counselling in custody and had not undergone a psychiatric evaluation.
The writ said he should not have been assessed as suitable for a 12-month community order because he was homeless and required help for substance abuse.

“No reasonable corrections officer” would have concluded a community order was suitable in those circumstances, the writ said, adding that the conditions that Hammond be assessed and receive treatment for drug, alcohol and mental health issues as directed by corrections authorities were not met – nor was Hammond in regular contact with supervisors between his release on 1 April and Ms Herron’s death on 25 May.

The young victim had met Hammond the day before and had invited him to join her friends in smoking ice, something her group were uneasy about. Ms Herron and her killer went for a walk through the park early the next day, and Hammond spent 50 minutes beating the young girl to death.

READ MORE: Courtney Herron’s father says Victoria’s laws ‘favour the perpetrator’

He was found not guilty of murder last year by way of mental impairment and was ordered to spend 25 years in a psychiatric facility, a slap in the face to Courtney’s family. Her father, a Greek-speaking lawyer, knows the system all too well and told Neos Kosmos “psychiatric prisoners can make an appeal to be let out, and the average time spent there is eight years”, adding that in the case of his daughter’s killer, who has access to private legal fees, the actual time spent may be “five years, and many inmates are let out in three.”

Mr Herron said his daughter cannot be brought back, but he has lodged the writ “to make the state accountable for the plethora of early released violent offenders that kill and continue to kill women in Melbourne: Euridice Dixon, Asaiwa Masar, Jill Maher, Celeste Manno and Courtney. The state has done nothing to halt this and needs to address these violent offenders”, he said, determined to give Courtney a voice.

Since Courtney Herron’s death, her family has suffered greatly, especially due to the circumstances surrounding her murder.

“Sometimes they are subject to suppression orders so you don’t know when they are released. Neither the families or police are notified upon their release. And a big part of their ‘treatment’ is that they are encouraged to have unsupervised leave in the facility. After a few years they can go out,” Mr Herron had told Neos Kosmos following the last court order.

Mr Herron is concerned that the same system that failed his daughter may fail another potential victim once her killer is allowed to roam the adjacent parklands.

READ MORE: “My daughter died three deaths,” says John Herron about Courtney

Mr Herron wants damages for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and adjustment disorder following his daughter’s death, bearing in mind that his psychiatric injuries due to the circumstances surrounding her death have caused him economic loss.

In the past, Mr Herron had told Neos Kosmos that his daughter had died three deaths. Her first was the announcement of her brutal murder by the Victoria Police Homicide Squad in 2019, he said. The second was the revelation that her killer had been released early from prison in April 2019 having served just a few months for a violent crime against another woman, and the third death, according to Mr Hammond, was the Crown’s acceptance of a “not guilty” plea by reason of mental impairment.

He said Hammond “shouldn’t have been on the streets”, adding that “he was going to kill someone”. Regarding blame for his daughter’s death, and how much should be apportioned to Hammond or the state, Mr Herron states it is “70/30 per cent to the state for being negligent in releasing and not treating Hammond at all”.

Neos Kosmos last week lodged questions concerning Hammond’s release with Emma Cassar, who was commissioner of Corrections Victoria when Ms Herron died, however our requests went unanswered. Ms Cassar now heads COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria.