Deathscapes

Andrea Pickett 13f - Waiting to be killed

Deathscapes

A gross failure of protection

A map shows the spatial relationship between Andrea's home in Brookedale which is south of the Swan river that divides the Perth region and her relatives' houses in Mirrabooka and in North Beach, which are both north of the river. It also shows the proximity of police stations to these addresses. The Armadale police station appears to be a very short drive to Andrea's home. Likewise, both the Ballajura and Mirrabooka police stations that she attended are very close to her relative's house and not too far from her cousin's house in North Beach where she was murdered. It notes that the address that Kenneth Pickett was supposed to reside at was a 4 hour drive away.

[imagecaption] When Mr Pickett was released on parole, Andrea no longer felt safe in her Brookdale home. While his parole conditions stipulated that he must reside in Narembeen and have no contact with Andrea, a point reinforced by an active VRO, soon after his release he breached those conditions. On various occasions Andrea reported this to the police. For periods of time she stayed with a relative in Mirrabooka, however he soon found her there. Eventually, in the absence of available Crisis Care accommodation, she went to North Beach to stay with her cousin. This is where Mr Pickett murdered her. [/imagecaption]

[BREAK]

The murder of Andrea Pickett in circumstances in which her estranged husband made repeated threats to kill her and subsequently was able to do so represents a gross systemic failure and the unwillingness of authorities to provide her with protection. When Kenneth Pickett was seen by a psychologist in August 2008 and asked whether he was currently a threat to his wife, he replied ‘I don’t really know, I’m probably still a risk’. Despite this admission, he was released with no protective measures in place for Andrea. His acknowledgement of the ongoing risk he posed did not compel a response from any of the agencies involved. A condition of his parole was that he have no direct or indirect contact with Andrea, and live with his sister in Narembeen. However, his movements were not effectively monitored by his parole officer, and he continued to breach an active VRO.

 


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This research was primarily supported under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme from 2016-2020.

Partial funding was received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Partnership Development Grants scheme in 2016-2017.

The views expressed herein are those of the named authors and are not necessarily those of the funders.

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