‘Just Say Goodbye’ (January 2013 online edition)

‘Just Say Goodbye’Sonia: The first time he did it to me I was just absolutely terrified. I said, ‘Whydid you hit me? What did I do to deserve that?’ He said, ‘You didn’t do as youwere told. If you had done as you were told, it wouldn’t have happened.’ I saidto him, ‘But I didn’t do anything wrong. I just did what I was supposed to.’He said, ‘You didn’t do it the way I wanted it done.’The violence escalated and included sexual assault against Sonia. WhenJayson Dalton threw a microwave at Sonia and Jessie, she reported the incidentto police, who came and took him away. The police obtained a domestic violenceorder to protect Sonia. One month later, just before Christmas, Jayson puncheda hole in the door of their house and threw a broom at Sonia. He took offwith Jessie.Sonia: I was just out of my head with worry about where he’d taken herand what had happened. A police inspector came and he pulled me asideand said, ‘Look, this is escalating, this violence, and you’ve really got todo something.’Sometime later, after Jayson had returned, Sonia packed her things and leftwith the children. On the one-and-a-half hour drive to her mother’s, Jaysonrang Sonia’s mobile phone 76 times. He followed her and assaulted Sonia’smother at her house. The police later arrested him for breaching the domesticviolence order for the second time and he was held in custody overnight. Thepolice warned Sonia that he would be furious and seek revenge when he wasreleased from custody and that she should go somewhere safe. At this point,Sonia’s mental state deteriorated and she became manic and delusional. She wasadmitted to the Acute Mental Health Unit at Toowoomba Hospital, with whatwas described as postnatal psychosis.While Sonia was in hospital her family cared for the children. However,Jayson went to the Family Court to obtain residence of the children. The courtcase lasted 14 minutes. Sonia was absent because she was in hospital. Therewas only one brief reference to the violence against Sonia, when her solicitorinformed the judge, ‘there are domestic violence issues’. The judge took theview that while Sonia was unwell, ‘the next most logical person to care for thechildren … is the children’s father’ (Four Corners 2004).Several weeks later, the matter went before the Family Court again. Jaysonunsuccessfully applied for shared care of the children. Sonia was given primaryresidence of the children and Jayson was given two weekends per month withthe children. However, Sonia never saw her children again because he killedthem before returning them to her.47