A mother of a woman who was killed by her boyfriend has slammed the legal system for failing her daughter.
Melbourne woman Saasha Brimble lost Jessica Geddes, 27, to her daughter’s violent and controlling partner Robert Rickerby, 30, on November 6, 2020.
Rickerby was charged with murder before it was downgraded to manslaughter on the eve of his trial in May after he struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty.
Ms Brimble said her daughter had tried to alert authorities several times as she was physically and verbally abused, isolated and starved.
The mother claimed one time she was on the phone to her daughter, who had a child of her own, and could hear Rickerby threaten and abuse her loved one.
She said Rickerby had threatened to send Ms Brimble back to her parents in a body bag. Days later she was found dead at her Endeavour Hills home.
Sarah Brimble (pictured with her granddaughter Arianna-Leigh at her eldest daughter Jessica Geddes’ funeral) said police failed her daughter and other women after they took 18-months to charge Rickerby with murder – after media attention
Jessica Geddes, 27, (pictured) had been isolated and starved by her boyfriend, who also took her centrelink payments and abused and assaulted her over a three-year period
‘I had a detective tell me my daughter might still be alive if (police) did their job right,’ Ms Brimble told the Herald Sun.
During the volatile relationship, Ms Geddes had alerted police, hospital staff, friends, neighbours and a 7-Eleven worker to her boyfriend’s abuse – but it fell on deaf ears.
Rickerby will face a hearing at the Supreme Court on Monday where he will come face to face with Ms Brimble, as prosecutors argue their case before sentencing.
Ms Geddes sustained more than 50 skeletal injuries, according to a post-mortem examination.
Court documents claimed that the 27-year-old’s injuries included 16 rib fractures, four fractures in the vertebra and 10 fractures across both hands.
The injuries were found to have occurred over ‘days, weeks, months and possibly years’ and were not self-inflicted or treated, according to a forensic pathologist.
Ms Brimble, who described her daughter as bubbly and driven, said the 27-year-old was living in Queensland when she met Rickerby on a dating site in 2017.
Within days he had ‘whisked’ Ms Geddes away to Victoria, leaving her five-year-old daughter Arianna-Leigh behind.
Over the course of the following three years, Jessica was bashed, isolated and starved.
Rickerby took control of her life, claiming her Centrelink payments for himself and ensuring she had no money to buy food, clothes or personal items.
Before Ms Geddes met Rickerby, she weighed a healthy 79kg, but at the time of her death her weight had dropped to an alarming 46kg.
Robert Rickerby (pictured) was charged with murdering his girlfriend Jessica Geddes, who he met on a dating app. But he recently took a deal with the prosecution and pleaded guilty to manslaughter
‘He was breaking my girl. He was breaking her slowly,’ Ms Brimble said.
The mum said her daughter had struggled with mental health issues and had not told any of her loved ones the address of where she lived.
‘I would have been there in a heartbeat but I didn’t know where she lived until four days before she passed away. I would have had a team with me, a squad with me trying to get her,’ she said.
The mother said she felt like her ‘hands were tied’ because she couldn’t call police and tell them an address to go to help her daughter.
But Ms Geddes herself showed moments of bravery – like in September 2019 when she went to her friend’s house after an incident left her with blood oozing from a large forehead wound.
Ms Geddes’ friend called the police after she told them Rickerby had assaulted her.
The 27-year-old told officers Rickerby had punched her multiple times and hit her on the head with a hammer – and said it wasn’t the first time he had attacked her.
Although Rickerby was arrested, he denied assaulting his girlfriend and claimed Ms Geddes was prone to self-harm.
He ended up not being charged over the incident, despite police preparing a brief of evidence.
He later told a friend he had hit Ms Geddes that day.
Ms Brimble – who had a Facebook campaign to get justice for her daughter- said the system had failed her eldest child and other women too.
The mother feels like police didn’t want to know about the case because her daughter wasn’t ‘an elite, rich woman’.
Ms Brimble also believes without her speaking to the media, an arrest may have never been made – which came eight days after she first shone media attention on her daughter’s death.
