By CASEY NEILL
ANTI-VIOLENCE campaigner Phil Cleary stunned a packed Drum Theatre to silence on Tuesday.
He spoke passionately about his sister’s violent death following the inaugural City of Greater Dandenong Walk Against Family Violence.
It was August 1987 and Vicki was 25. She had ended a relationship with her killer just a few months earlier.
She’d parked her car at the kindergarten where she worked.
“He’d been waiting for an hour, ready to strike,” Mr Cleary said.
“He was armed with a knife and other weapons.
“He was an assassin and he completed his task.
“He stabbed my sister in the face, he cut her hands as she fought him off.
“He dragged her from the car, drove the knife into her liver and we were called to the hospital.”
Mr Cleary has championed the anti-violence message ever since.
“I saw a jury offered a defence of provocation under the now disbanded and discredited provocation law,” he said.
“I saw a jury hand down a not guilty to murder verdict.
“I saw the judge grant the killer a sentence of three years and 11 months in jail.”
See next week’s Journal for full coverage of Greater Dandenong’s White Ribbon Day activities.
