SHE HAD KNOWN HIM FOR JUST EIGHT DAYS… BUT FIVE WOMEN HAD ALREADY BEEN WARNING AUTHORITIES ABOUT HIM FOR SIX YEARS..! – DANNIELLE FINLAY-JONES INQUEST CLOSES WITH HARROWING DV FAILURES LAID BARE.
Dannielle-Finlay Jones inquest comes to a close, laying bare to harrowing DV statistics
Dannielle Finlay-Jones had known her killer for just eight days – yet five women had been warning authorities about him for six years before her death. \
Dannielle Finlay-Jones was just 31-years-old when she was murdered at the hands of her new partner on their third date.
Five other women had been raising the alarm over her killer, 33-year-old Ashley Gaddie, for over six years prior through various AVOs before his last act of senseless violence.
But their voices were ignored until teacher’s aide Ms Finlay-Jones was killed by Gaddie inside a friend’s home in Cranebrook in Sydney’s northwest in December 2022.
They had met just eight days prior.
The pair had been out to Christmas drinks the night before with Ms Finlay-Jones’ friends, the first time they had met Gaddie, before they went home to a friend’s house in Cranebrook in Sydney’s northwest.
The next morning, Ms Finlay-Jones was found deceased in her friend’s spare bedroom, and Gaddie had fled the scene.
Ms Finlay-Jones was also a talented soccer playing, having played for Ramsgate RSL for 25 years. Picture: Facebook
Gaddie will never be held accountable for the act, after he died while in custody.
Almost four years later, and a coronial inquest into her death was told Ms Finlay-Jones died at the hands of Gaddie, who unbeknown to her had a lengthy history of domestic violence.
Two young teachers lost to DV
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Ms Finlay Jones’ family and friends were present in court, with the presence of another heartbroken mother palpable.
Sitting in the courtroom was Ms Finlay Jones’ family friend and Lilie James’ mother Peta, who has now attended two coronial inquests for young women in her life who were both killed in domestic violence attacks.
Ms James, 21, was murdered less than a year after Ms Finlay-Jones inside St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney’s CBD on October 25, 2023 by her ex- partner Paul Thijssen, 24.
While to some it may seem like a chilling coincidence, the grief felt by Peta and Jacky for both young girls speaks to the growing epidemic in this country.
Their deaths were no accident.
At the end of the huge week-long inquest Ms Finlay-Jones’ mother Jacky told NewsWire she hopes for urgent reforms to be made to protect more young women.
Jacky spoke supported by her son Blake and sporting a “Beauty and The Beast” T-shirt in honour of her daughter’s favourite movie.
She said her daughter believed in the mantra: “beauty is found within”.
“This has been an incredibly difficult and confronting week for our family,” she told NewsWire.
Dannielle Finlay-Jones was working as a teacher’s aide in Sydney’s south. Picture: GoFundMe
Lilie James, 22, was a water polo coach and teacher who was killed at St Andrews. Picture: Facebook
“We came to this inquest looking for answers about how Dannielle could have lost her life at the hands of a man with such an extensive history of violence against women.
“Well, we’ve received some of these answers … but we leave this inquest with even more questions about how so many warning signs and opportunities could have been missed.
“What we have heard has been shocking. We’ve heard evidence of multiple women, multiple ADVOS, and serious domestic violence offending.
“We’ve heard that Ashley Gaddie’s risk of reoffending was incorrectly assessed. We have heard of missed opportunities and information that was not properly considered and failures to act when he was arrested again.
“And yet, despite all of these warnings Dannielle met this man through a dating app without knowing any of it.”
Jacky said it’s important to their family to help explore what more can be done in future to prevent further tragedies.
“We have checks and safeguards in so many areas of our lives … we believe it’s time to ask whether more should be done to protect people using dating apps, particularly where someone has a demonstrated history of serious violence against women.
“If stronger safeguards had existed, would Dannielle ever have met Ashley Gaddie? We will never know.”
“Dannielle was only 31. She should still be here. Our hope now is that Dannielle’s death will lead to changes that may save another woman’s life. If that happens, that will be part of Dannielle’s legacy.
“We love her. We miss her every single day and we will never stop fighting for her.”
Jacky thanked the state coroner and counsel assisting and everyone involved in the inquest for the care and respect that has been shown to Dannielle and to their family throughout the process.
Dannielle’s lasting legacy
Like so many domestic violence cases, the call for change is only occurring after a young life has already been taken.
During an emotional tribute to her daughter during the inquest, Jacky read harrowing statistics, about the number of women that have been killed by their partner in the past four years while they have awaited the inquest.
“Dannielle was the 60th woman across Australia that was killed in 2022 to domestic violence,” she said.
A garden created in Dannielle’s memory. Picture: Facebook
Dannielle Finlay-Jones was deeply loved and cherished by her family. Picture: Supplied
“Behind every one of those numbers is another broken mother, brother, sister and family.
“Dannielle may appear to some as a statistic but she wasn’t a statistic she was my daughter.
“What still overwhelms me is discovering just how loved, respected and cherished she was to so many people.”
Ms Finlay-Jones was a young women “hitting her stride”, the inquest was told and was devoting her life to educating young people in Sydney’s south.
Ms Finlay-Jones was a soccer player for Ramsgate RSL for 25 years and was a passionate captain and leader to her teammates.
She was also working as a teacher’s aide at a southern Sydney school where a memorial garden now sits in her memory.
Horrific domestic violence history
The inquest was told Ms Finlay-Jones died of a blunt force injury and pressure on the neck consistent with strangling.
“The court would be comfortably satisfied that Ashley Gaddie inflicted those injuries,” she said.
Gaddie’s fingerprints were found in the spare bedroom, with the fly screen also broken where it is believed the 33-year-old escaped.
Ms Ward said the pair’s relationship was still in its infancy at the time of the murder.
“They had only met in person eight days before Dannielle’s death,” she said.
Ashley Gaddie was arrested over the murder. Facebook
The inquest was told that Gaddie drank about 15 beers and took prescription Valium at the Christmas party before they went back to Ms Finlay-Jones’ home where they stayed the night.
The following morning, her friends found Ms Finlay-Jones in the spare bedroom.
The inquest was told, there was no credible evidence that anyone other than Gaddie had contact with her after her friends closed the door to the spare bedroom and when she was found deceased.
One thing that remains clear, however, is that Gaddie had a violent past that had been escalating over time.
The 33-year-old and former tradesman had multiple previous convictions of domestic violence offences, as well as six AVOs taken out against him by five different women, between 2016 and 2022.
He was convicted of five domestic violence offences including intentionally choke person without consent, damage property (DV), stalk or intimidate, common assault (DV), and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He has also been previously charged over assaulting and intimidating police officers.
At the time of Ms Finlay-Jones’ death, Gaddie was serving a two-year community corrections order for the domestic violence offences, and had two current AVO’s against him.
He was also on bail at the time over a June 2022 incident involving a separate woman and had a history of cocaine abuse, as well as anabolic steroids and mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression.
Dannielle Finlay-Jones pictured with close family friend Irene who support Jacky through the coronial inquest. Picture: Supplied
Danielle Finlay-Jones’s mother Jacky. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard.
A flawed system
The inquest highlighted several instances where Gaddie fell through the cracks of the system.
Gaddie’s risk had been “misscored” during a sentencing assessment report for prior domestic violence offences, the inquest was told, which placed him at a “low risk”.
NSW Community Corrections also missed an alert in 2022 when Gaddie re-entered their system and had again been charged by police that said his case should be reviewed when possible.
The alert was “clearly visible” on screen when Gaddie was charged, the inquest was told, but “nothing happened”.
By August the alert had disappeared “as if it had never existed”.
It wasn’t until after Ms Finlay-Jones’ death that it was discovered during a critical incident review, which then led to a statewide review that found a third of rearrest cases had not been appropriately followed up on.
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“In other words the closer correctives looked the more problems they found,” Ms Ward said.
“It was unknown to Dannielle … she had no reason to think the man she met online and took to Christmas drinks was a man who posed a risk to her,” Ms Ward said.
The matter is now set to be referred to the domestic violence death review team, with the inquest conceding that more needs to be done to stop people like Gaddie from using dating apps and putting “hundreds if not thousands of women in danger”.
