True Crime with Kimbyr - Evil Minds: The Bright Young Woman Whose Life Was Stolen by Darkness: Part 3
Episode Date: May 22, 2025In the emotional conclusion of this case on True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha brings you into the courtroom and beyond. Justice is finally pursued, but at what cost? Through harrowing testimony and... gut-wrenching details, we learn just how twisted the truth really was. How could anyone commit such an act—and what became of the family left shattered in the aftermath? With compassion and clarity, Kimbyrleigha honors Sarah’s legacy and confronts the chilling final chapter of a story that proves evil truly can hide in plain sight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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From the outset, Jackie knew that he was bad news.
Stephen Blaineley told her he wanted to sleep with her.
And she told him she wasn't interested,
and yet no matter how many times, this woman said no,
Stephen kept hitting on her and making inappropriate advances.
In one incident, he pretends to fall over accidentally
and land on top of her in the storeroom, and he tries to kiss her
while she's trying to get out from underneath him.
He also invited her to hang out time and time again,
go surfing, do things together,
but she always turned him down.
She told her friends what was happening at work, and that she didn't want to date a man who had a child,
but she didn't care for Stephen anyway. Meanwhile, Stephen was having conversations of his own about Jacqueline.
He told a friend that ever since the storeroom incident, he couldn't stop thinking about her, and quote,
now that he had a taste of her, he wouldn't stop until he finally got her."
End quote, that is disgusting. And the tension between Jacqueline and Stephen came to a head on the 9th of April,
in 1986, when she turned him down for the last time. When she left work after her shift ended,
Stephen ran out of the building after her car. Then a couple hours later, Stephen returned to work
in a fresh set of clothing and wet hair. Then in the early hours of the following morning,
the burnt-out remains of Jackie's vehicle were found at the Herndel Road Bridge, facing the river.
Her body was found charred beyond recognition and slumped in the back seat of this car with a
gasoline container nearby. Fire investigators determined this vehicle had been doused in gasoline
before it was set on fire, which made this so clear it was an act of arson. Jackie's autopsy then revealed
she not even died in this fire. She had been stabbed seven times in the throat and heart before her car
was set on fire to cover up this crime. As the word spread about Jackie's murder, her friends,
her family members and co-workers came forward to share their observations of Stephen.
his behavior towards her in the weeks prior.
And he was quickly labeled a person of interest
in her death and brought in for questioning.
Investigators would later describe
Steven's attitude in these police investigations
as unfazed and cold.
He denied having any involvement in Jackie's murder,
and he said he had been at work the whole time.
He said, quote, I'm not gonna confess,
we can play games all night, end quote.
But Stephen and Jackie's coworkers provided
compelling statements that he had run out the door,
when she left that night, that they recalled he was gone for several hours and then came back to work in a new set of clothing.
Finally, the pressure was on. The evidence was mounting against Stephen.
He decided to provide his version of the events leading up to Jacqueline's death.
Stephen claimed that his car was blocked in at the supermarket, so Jackie offered to give him a ride home.
But instead of going straight home, Jackie decided to drive the car to a place where she could park,
and then she started to kiss him.
The situation escalated according to Stephen
when he got mad that Jackie wouldn't take him back to work
when he demanded to go back
because he was married and didn't want to cheat on his wife.
He said that he slapped Jackie
and then she pulled a knife on him
and tried to attack him.
They struggled inside the car
and she somehow ended up in the back seat
and then all of a sudden
she was bleeding to death from her stab wounds
and there was nothing he could do to save her.
Excuse me, sir, what?
Yeah.
And Stephen goes on to say, quote,
I've got a violent temper.
I just stabbed her.
I went mad and stabbed her a few more times.
I should have taken her to the hospital the first time,
but I was scared, end quote.
Stephen recalled that he was covered in blood,
so he knew he needed to go home and change.
He also knew he needed to return to work
because he needed an alibi.
But when he got home,
his wife had people over, so he had to go wash the blood off outside and then cover himself
with a blanket before going inside and changing. At some point, Stephen confessed to his wife that he had
killed someone. Stephen even asked a friend to help him dispose of Jacqueline's body and the evidence
left in her car. They doused the car in kerosene and set it on fire. And once the vehicle was
fully consumed, the friend supposedly drove Stephen back to work, but not before he got rid of
the knife by throwing it in the trash. Stephen thought that the fire was enough to eliminate any
potential connection between him and Jacqueline's murder. He went on with his life as if nothing
happened. However, because the investigators were closing in on them, the friend who helped him
cover up Jackie's murder started to beg Stephen to come forward so that he would not be implicated
in Stephen's crime. But when he refused, the friend went to the police and admitted everything
about the cover-up. And finally, Stephen did confess. And in the end, he stated, quote,
I'm not a human being, I'm a dog, I want to go to jail for 20 years, end quote. If Stephen actually
got what he asked for and what he deserved, endless heartbreak could have been avoided, both for
Jackie's family and his future victims. But instead, Stephen's lawyer urged him to plead not
guilty to Jackie's murder, and the case was sent to trial. On the stand during the 1988 trial,
Stephen presented an absurd defense.
He claimed that Jacqueline had relentlessly pursued him.
She was the one who tried to kiss him in the storeroom.
She was the one that wouldn't let him go back to his wife
when he said he didn't want to cheat.
He was the one who repeatedly warned her
that he wasn't interested in a relationship.
Stephen claimed that Jackie had pulled a knife on him
because he turned her down, and he accidentally stabbed her.
Quote, I was frightened and I panicked.
but I didn't mean to harm her.
It's hard to believe I did this terrible thing, end quote.
No, it's really easy to believe you did it because you're a monster.
And thankfully, the jury was not convinced by this performance of his.
It was clear to everyone that Jackie's murder was motivated by Stephen's unsatisfied lust and the rejection.
He was in a jealous rage in Jackie's car when she refused to engage with him.
Stephen was found guilty of murder.
and you would expect that he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
The judge even describes Stephen as having shown no signs of guilt or any kind of remorse.
But the judge ends up sentencing him to only 16 years in prison with just a 13-year period before he could get parole.
Of course, he criticized Stephen's characterization of what Jackie did, that Jackie was the predator.
He said that the story of this deceased girl abducting you, getting you to a woman, getting you to a child,
a quiet place in order to make these advances upon you is absurd. But despite the brutality of
Jackie's murder, the judge also expressed concern for Stephen's future, Stephen's future, a future
that his victims will never have that Jackie would never get. In the judge's mind, 16 years was a long
time, time in prison where it would limit Stevens' chances of doing much of anything, having a career,
getting any job experiences, being a father again.
And he said that Stephen would be a drain
on this community for many, many years
with little to no chance of ever returning
to the community as a useful or decent citizen.
And no truer words have ever been spoken.
Yet 13 years later, the same guy who so brutally took a life,
admitted to a cover-up, and then tried to blame it
on his victim, was allowed to walk free,
free to cross paths with another unexpected woman.
And sadly, Sarah had no idea
who Stephen truly was.
He wasn't a protector.
He wasn't her savior.
He was her worst nightmare.
And she would meet her violent end at his hands.
What Sarah didn't know was that Stephen had spent
the past 24 years in and out of prison,
four years after murdering Jackie and burning her body
in her own car and two years into his jail sentence,
he actually escaped from prison.
And he was just given four additional months on his term,
just four.
And after serving those mandatory third
years of his 16-year sentence, he was released on parole. Yeah. Two years later in March of 2002,
he was at it again. He kidnapped someone, tied them up, gagged them, beat them. And when he was arrested
for this, they found drugs on him, meth to be exact, and he was intending to sell them. So his parole
was canceled and he was sent back to prison in July of 2002 and he should have stayed there.
Yet three months after being sent back, he was re-released on parole again.
Tell me why.
Then in February of 2005, Stephen was arrested again, charged with a DUI, and two months later,
he finally faced justice for that kidnapping and beating of that man three years earlier.
He was found guilty and sentenced to at least four years and six months in prison.
But he appealed this sentence, and it was reduced by six months.
He was released on parole in late 2011 before meeting Sarah.
I know that was a lot to take in, but the point is he was in and out of prison, being paroled again and again.
and again, given chance after chance.
Now recall that towards the end of October 2012,
after Sarah's first time in detox,
she confessed to her mom that she was using again.
Now, she didn't reveal to her mother
that she had a steady supply of drugs
from her new friend Stephen.
Sarah never got the chance to turn her life around.
Because unbeknownst to her,
on the 30th of October 2012,
Steven's parole period ended,
and he was once again a completely free man.
Instead of following Sarah's lead and turning his own life around,
he used his freedom to destroy hers.
As investigators were looking into Stephen,
they were able to retrieve both his and Sarah's phone records,
including text messages that were sent
and social media interactions between them.
Stephen had told friends he was not sexually attracted to Sarah.
Well, also remember that on Wednesday,
November 7th, Sarah and her friend went to Stevens
to party and spent the night.
Well, at 3.45 a.m.,
Stephen sent Sarah a text that said,
I love you lots.
And he continued to send her similar texts
throughout the afternoon and night.
This flurry of messages might have had something
to do with the fact that Sarah told him
she was going to see her ex Chris to talk about their breakup.
By Saturday the 10th of November,
Sarah was just a few days away from checking back into detox.
And there were text messages between her and Stephen
from Saturday morning showing them making plans
hang out at his condo on Simson Street. I'm going to put this up on the screen so you can follow along,
but Stephen texts Sarah at 1121, saying just walked in the door at flat, come over if you're
bored. About an hour later, Sarah texted back, how long are you hanging at the flat for?
Stephen responded, depends, really, came back for a shower, which I'm about to jump. Then I was
going to go chasing someone to play with, what you're doing. Sarah texts back a few minutes later at
1227 p.m. saying, drinking sparenoff, because I'm feeling lonely, L.O.L. I'm down for a play.
I'll get my face on and pop over.
Steven says, excellent, playtime it is.
This may have been a code word.
This whole playtime, someone to play with, playing.
Could have been a code word for meth.
Either way, we know Sarah went to buy alcohol
about an hour or so later
because that was caught on CCTV footage
before she was seen for the very last time with Stephen
at that pub near his condo
and then never seen again.
Once the painstaking task of removing Sarah's body
from her cement tomb
inside that trash bin had been concluded,
her body was sent for an autopsy.
She had been badly battered and stabbed at least 19 times
in the head, chest, and abdomen.
How horrifying.
And meanwhile, the investigators were interviewing neighbors
around Stephen Simpson Street condo
about what they knew about the 47-year-old man.
A woman named Marita, who lived next door to Stephen
for the last 18 months, said that he was pretty much a model neighbor,
that they would chat in their share in their family.
shared driveway on a regular basis and he would run around with this cute chihuahua.
Their most recent conversation was actually on Saturday, November 10th, when Sarah went missing.
Marita actually saw Sarah arrive at Stevens with a friend that afternoon and all three of them
left together, but only Sarah came back with Stephen later that evening. Knowing that Sarah had later
been found murdered, Marita said that it was a tragedy and she wished that she could have reached
out and grabbed her and told her to go. Marita confirmed she never saw Sarah leave Steve's
Stephen's condo that night. She also let investigators know that this wasn't the first time she had seen Sarah.
She'd actually been coming to visit Stephen for several weeks. Marita said Stephen had many friends,
most of whom were actually men. So Marita was surprised when this 22-year-old woman began visiting
this 47-year-old man regularly. She said that for the last few weeks, Sarah had been coming there regularly
day and night, and she would say hi. And on Saturday, Sarah actually waved to her.
Marita described Stephen as having umpteen friends, which just meant a lot, but they never caused any trouble.
She said she was actually very comfortable around Stephen, and she never felt intimidated or threatened by him in any way.
And I can't help but wonder if these so-called friends that this woman kept seeing were actually people buying substances from Stephen.
Stephen had been working laying pavers, and his most recent employer described him as a good employee.
But he had called in on the morning of November 19th and said he wouldn't be coming in,
and was expected to be away for a few days.
It took another week after Sarah's body was found
for the police who tracked Stephen down at a friend's house
at a second-story apartment on Caroline Street
in the town of Hawthorne, about an hour away from Backus Marsh.
They had a warrant for his arrest,
and he went with 30 undercover, heavily armed special operations officers
around 12, 20 p.m. on Tuesday, November 20th, without incident.
When he was arrested, he had a graze to his right cheekbone,
and the right side of his chin.
He was wearing a blue rugby top with a yellow collar,
green cargo shorts, and no shoes.
An officer asked if he knew why he was being arrested,
and Stephen replied, yes, murder.
Then he said that he should be locked up until he died.
His parole period had just expired only 11 days
before Sarah was murdered.
Now they wanted to know what happened.
And Stephen, of course, began denying
that he had anything to do with what happened
to Sarah, that he never harmed her, and that they were friends. They got along great.
But then he would remark again that police should lock him up until he dies. He seemed to be
very conflicted. It's like he wanted to confess, but he was apprehensive to do it, but they
kept pushing harder and harder and finally. Stephen began to give in. He was giving information
to them little by little and admitted to killing Sarah, but said that he couldn't explain
why he killed her. He said, I don't understand why. I really don't understand.
and why. And then he said, I am nothing. But soon, Stephen's version would come out. He explained,
that afternoon he and Sarah went to his condo to smoke meth and drink alcohol. And at some point,
Stephen was cleaning the condo when he found a used syringe that belonged to his ex-girlfriend.
That's when he made a disparaging remark about junkies. And we already know,
Sarah is very sensitive about people calling her a junkie. It's just something that rubbed her the
way. Well, in Stephen's version, Sarah mistakenly believed that this comment was directed at her.
So she began to yell at him. And then he said, she hit him on the back. And as she was standing
near the kitchen bench, he turned around, he lost his balance and he fell to the tiled floor.
When he got up, Sarah supposedly hid him again, at which point Stephen claimed he just lost his
temper and snapped and attacked her with a hammer. But he says he doesn't remember ever
stabbing her. He was much stronger and much bigger than Sarah. He could have easily and most
likely did overpower her before having to stab her 19 times. I say having to stab her. He didn't have to
stab her. It was completely unnecessary. She probably would have just died from being hit so hard
over the head. However, it's believed that she was actually hit with those bloody dumbbells found in
Stephen's garage and stab with a knife in his bedroom. And those were the murder weapons because
as a hammer was never located, according to the reports that I read. However, how similar does this
story sound to Stephen's first murder? This girl takes offense as something he said, she attacks him,
and then he has no choice but to defend himself with lethal force, even though he's bigger than these
women. I'm not buying it. Stephen eventually admitted he left Sarah's body in this house for two
days before deciding how he would proceed with covering up her murder. And he went to extreme lengths
to try to cover his tracks. He actually used Sarah's phone to send messages and call people and communicate
with friends on social media so that it shifted any suspicion that she was dead. He also sent texts
from his own phone to her acting like they were still in conversation so that he wouldn't be looked
at as being involved. On Sunday, the day after the murder, he had
actually texted Sarah at 10.07 a.m. saying, quote, hey, badass bandit, I just came to. I'm so hungover.
What are you up to? Then an hour later, he sent another text saying, hey, you, it's me.
Give me a call when you want to catch up. And then at 136, he texted, need my keys, call me.
He sent all these messages while knowing that Sarah was dead lying on his kitchen floor. He was
just trying to cover up what he had done. He also moved Sarah's car, which had been parked outside of his
condo and he moved it in front of that drug dealer's house on purpose. Then Stephen returned to his
condo on Monday, November 12th, the same day that Sarah was supposed to check into her detox center
and he wrapped her body in a bag, then moved his car into the garage and put her inside the trunk of his
car. Then he drove to his friend's house, a guy that he actually served time with in prison around 7.30 p.m.
and said he messed up and he needed his help. He lied about what happened. He told this friend he was
house sitting and he had a party and things got out of control and one of his friends killed Sarah
accidentally and now we needed to get rid of this body that was left at his place. Initially this friend
went to McDonald's with Stephen. They got a little bite to eat which is just unbelievable to me.
They can even have an appetite at a time like this, but Stephen was more frantic. He told the friend he
needed to act fast because the body was beginning to smell. So then they headed over to a local
hardware store called Bunnings where Stephen bought a church.
20-liter container of hydrochloric acid, three bags of rapid-set concrete, one bag of garden lime,
and a roll of black plastic. When they returned to the car to load things up, the friend was about to
open the trunk and Stephen said, don't. There's a body in there. And that is when this friend decided
he didn't want to help him anymore. Of course, Stephen kept pleading with him to please, please help.
And then he asked him if he had a boat or somewhere that he could dispose of her out in the country,
like some property he used to own.
But this friend just checked out.
And he left Stephen there to deal with it himself.
On the next day, Tuesday, November 13th,
Stephen drove to this new property that he had rented in Pointe Cook.
He pulled into the garage, took Sarah's body out of the trunk,
dumped her into that garbage bin, covered her with lime and concrete,
then poured water over it and closed the lid.
But once that concrete set in,
the bin was too heavy to move anywhere like Stephen had planned,
and he knew the authorities.
were closing in on him.
So he just left.
He left Sarah there just to decompose anyone on the run.
Stephen also told police that he burnt Sarah's personal items
in a bonfire.
Once the details of Sarah's murder were released
to her loved ones and friends,
they were beyond mortified, as you can probably imagine.
Ashley said with all those details,
she could see it in her mind.
She could hear it.
With her vivid imagination, she was playing everything out,
out in her head, everything that her friend went through.
It was just horrific.
Sarah's mom compared the way Stephen treated her beloved daughter
as trash or poop, just something to discard
like she was nothing.
She didn't understand how anyone could bludgeon
and stab someone that they cared about, someone they called a friend.
Hundreds of friends and relatives of Sarah's gathered
at St. Andrew's church for her memorial and funeral service.
So many people showed up that they had to stand outside
and listen to the service on speakers.
Many of the people in attendance wore white ribbons condemning violence against women.
It was heartbreaking to see Sarah's mom walking Sarah's beloved dog's sprocket on a pink leash beside mourners and pallbearers, all wearing Sarah's favorite color pink and set of the typical black attire.
She was laid to rest in a matching pink coffin, and the crowd released pink balloons into the sky to bid her farewell.
Sarah's father, Adrienne, said he understood the rage that many people felt
about his daughter's death, but in his heartfelt eulogy,
he asked for calm.
He said, quote, we are gathered to honor
and celebrate a life ended too soon,
the life of our treasured daughter, loved sister, cousin.
She is her mother's world and my little princess, end quote.
Sarah's mom wanted her to be remembered as bubbly and outgoing,
with a smile that lit up a room who radiated energy.
The song over the rainbow played in the background
as her coffin was carried from the church.
Stephen ended up pleading guilty to Sarah's murder,
sparing her family from a painful and drawn-out trial.
But it wasn't until August of 2013
at a sentencing hearing that the Crown argued
for a life sentence with no parole
due to the seriousness of the offense
and the fact that he covered up Sarah's murder,
or at least tried to.
But Stephen's defense lawyers blamed the murder on drugs.
He said that Sarah and Stephen were both
heavily intoxicated and high on meth.
the day of the murder and that Stephen should be eligible for parole when he's an old man.
The defense went into explicit detail about Stephen's traumatic upbringing in an attempt to get
sympathy and maybe to provide an explanation or an excuse for his actions. They shared that Stephen
had a highly deprived upbringing. It was characterized by physical violence, neglect,
alcohol, and substances. As a child, he was burned with an iron. He was degraded for bedwetting,
And in one terrible incident when he was eight years old,
his father Murray locked the three of the children in a room,
tied his mother to a chair,
and Stephen was then portrayed as a hero to the court.
As the defense explained that he managed to get free,
run out of the room, and he saw his father with a shotgun to his mother.
So he ran to get help.
I mean, yeah, all of that stuff is devastatingly terrible
that a young person had to go through.
But why kill people?
Why do the same to others?
It was now time for the victim impact statements,
and wow, these were some of the most moving
and heartbreaking ones that I've heard in a while.
Sarah's mom, Noel, and Father Adrian
stared at Stephen as they spoke.
While holding a pink ribbon and a framed picture of her daughter,
Noel explained how she's haunted by the thoughts
of the gruesome attack every time she takes out her trash bins.
She said, quote,
Every fortnight, I'm reminded of the fact that my daughter Sarah was put in a wheelie bin,
encased with concrete, to be thrown out like rubbish.
Sarah was not a piece of rubbish.
She was a beautiful, funny, and caring human being loved by everyone who was privileged to be a part of her life.
End quote.
She spoke about how painful it is to think about never getting a chance to attend her only child's wedding
or to be there when she had children of her own one day.
All that was ripped away from Sarah and also from everyone who loved her.
She said that Stephen's unforgivable act of violence
means that she will never be able to see her daughter's remains
or to tell her how much she loves her one more time.
Sarah's father, Adrian, described Sarah as truly beautiful,
as a loving soul, and he looked at Stephen while he spoke.
He talked about whatever happens next,
their life has been changed for the worst,
for the rest of their lives.
He also mentioned how ironic it was
that his daughter had been denied justice
when she was so passionate about studying
the subject herself.
It was Sarah's family that was serving a life sentence
since they had to spend the rest of their life without her.
Even though Stephen was only feet away from Sarah's parents,
he never made eye contact with them.
And the judge had to take all of this into consideration,
both the Crown's argument, what the defense said,
and the impact statements.
And ultimately, he determined that Stephen's actions
required his sentence of life.
without parole.
The judge explained that this murder of Sarah showed a propensity for violence,
and even if he were to become old in jail and think it on parole,
he was still likely to remain powerful enough to be an ongoing threat to the community.
So he was never getting out this time.
And I say this time, mark my words, because they're important.
This man was released the first time.
He did the exact same thing to another woman.
Sarah's friends and family, they clapped.
they clapped as his sentence was announced.
It was a relief, especially to her mom.
But years earlier, that same closure was short-lived
when Jacqueline's family had to watch as Stephen was let out of his cage
to roam again as a free man.
And there were still a couple people in attendance
who weren't thrilled about this sentence.
It's true.
One was Stephen's own father, Murray.
He attended this hearing.
This is the same man that we just heard about being violent.
And he stated that this sentence was unfair.
And that Stephen hadn't been
given a fair chance at rehabilitation after his first murder. What? That's one of the most unhinged
things I think I've heard someone say in court. Unfair? And then one of Stephen's friends, Diane, who had known
him for many, many years said that this wasn't justice done, that Stephen was a very nice man.
Those were her words, nice man when you know him. Um, I'm going to pass, as I'm sure anyone would.
No one wants to get to know a murderer. But then she went on to call Stephen.
a scapegoat and said he's not a monster, that he needs to be given a chance, not to be caged up for life
like an animal. Really? Because that's exactly where I think this animal and monster belonged. He called
himself a dog himself. He said he should be locked up till he dies. That's what he wanted. Obviously,
this friend of his didn't consider that Sarah and Jacqueline, they'll never get a chance to get old.
And I'd love to know all of your thoughts, of course, leave them in the comments. I like to
reading them over. Stephen was finally locked up for good, far away from where he could ever
hurt another woman again. But Sarah's story was far from over. The public and her family rightfully
wanted to know how a man like this with a violent history was allowed back in the community
in the first place. So after Sarah's death and years of advocacy from her mom, they ordered an inquest,
and four years after her death, this report was issued. It outlined a number of significant
failures. And this led to why Stephen was unmonitored and able to go free again. Things like deliberately
withholding psychological evaluations because they wanted a better history of criminals getting out on
parole because it shows that they're rehabilitated even when he wasn't. Then it showed a caseworker
who was just believing everything Stephen said, even though she had a history of what he had done.
If he said, oh, no, I've never done drugs and I'm not on drugs now, she would just believe him.
She said because he had holes in his clothes, he must not be a drug dealer because if he was a drug dealer, he would have enough money for good clothes.
That's not the way I would have seen it.
It's clear that Stephen was good at lying. He was a pathological liar.
And it was determined during this inquest that Stephen was able to play the system.
He simply lied and he exploited the fact that this system prioritized getting criminals to parole rather than protecting the community.
Stephen ended up admitting that he put up a facade.
Sarah's mom agreed with the findings of the inquest,
and she urged the recommendations to be taken seriously.
Now, these recommendations from the court
were that these violent offenders, they had to remain under supervision.
Just like what happens with S offenders, their past won't just disappear.
Instead, they have to have curfews, electronic monitoring,
and regular oversight from a parole manager.
And I'm thinking, shouldn't that
already have been happening? And after all of this, after feeling like at least her
family got some closure, guess what? Stephen appealed his life sentence. Yeah. His
lawyers were arguing that it was excessive and to top it off, he was requesting
legal aid to fund all of the costs. Well, this didn't sit right with Sarah's
family. Her mother actually spoke out about it and she was like if a killer,
if a convicted killer wants to appeal, then they should pay for it. She was like, they
They took someone's life.
They forfeited their rights when they killed our children, and I couldn't agree more.
In a letter to the court, Noel said that Sarah doesn't get to come back to her after 30 years
and carry on with her life and get her law degree, get married, and have children.
She'll never get to see her daughter smile again.
And that's so true.
Sarah was given a death sentence, so why not give Stephen a life sentence?
In the end, the High Court did determine that he would not be getting out.
he was denied the appeal and he was staying in prison for life.
I want the final words of this case to belong to Noelle, who lost her only child,
because of the failures in the system which are meant to protect people like Sarah, to protect
the community. So I'm going to let you listen to that now.
When Sarah came out of detox, she was glowing and she had so much this for life
And she was Sarah again and she was going to be the lawyer and she's going back to her studies
and, you know, she wants to travel and she wants to do so many things and it's all just coming
out and out. And to see her glowing again, it was just beautiful. And to think that in a split
second, it's all taken away by someone that should never have been on parole and to think that, you know,
he's had so many chances in his life. Sarah got her one chance to get herself back on track and to be
someone that she wanted to be. And he took that all away from her in a split second. I want to thank you all for
being here today for Sarah's story. Please share it with someone that needs to hear it. I will see you in my next video.
Bye.
