The parents of murdered water polo coach Lilie James have described their devastation in an emotional statement to the coronial inquest into her death.
Peta and Jamie James also stressed the importance of teaching young boys to “respect and value a woman’s opinion and choices” and warned that not doing so could have tragic consequences.
The final day of the inquest heard that Paul Thijssen tried to control, manipulate and gaslight the 21-year-old James as she tried to leave their short relationship, in the days before he murdered her with a hammer.
“If we are not teaching boys how to accept and value a woman’s opinions and choices and accept rejection, we may be setting them up for failure. Or in our case, a moment of time we will never recover from,” James’s parents said in their statement.
“To Lilie, we can promise you one thing: we will forever love you and never forget you.”
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What they said …
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Osama, a 40-year-old aid worker living in al-Mawasi in Gaza, describes the confusion and horror of Israel’s new offensive in Gaza after a two-month ceasefire. A massive wave of airstrikes has killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 183 children and 94 women, local health officials said.
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New Zealand can now claim to be home of the youngest athlete and the first 15-year-old to run a mile in under four minutes, thanks to Sam Ruthe smashing the record by two seconds.
Before bed read
In our Anywhere but Canberra series, ordinary people around the nation tell us about their life in the lead-up to the federal election. Today, Perth tradie Brent Daylight chats about his life working two jobs, why he rejects Peter Dutton’s stance on the Aboriginal flag, and who he might vote for this election.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: EGAL. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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