John Ashfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Ashfield was accused of touching his three year old sister in an inappropriate way. When he returned home from school his mother, Gunn-Britt Ashfield and her boyfriend agreed John could not be allowed to "get away with it". He didn't. Less than 24 hours later he died in Shoalhaven Hospital, his tiny body covered in more than 100 bruises from his parents's savage beating. A beating that ended with Hughes putting the Nowra telephone book against John's head, and hitting him with a hammer. When it became apparent that John had lost consciousness, his mother dunked him under a cold shower, then a hot shower. Several hours passed before Ashfield took her son to the Hospital. In the meantime, she told her other children to tell police John had been beaten by a gang of teenagers while walking through a park.

 

The story was never going to stack up, John was cold and bleeding from the nostrils when he was airlifted to Westmead hospital in Sydney. Doctor Barry Wilkins said John  had more than 100 different coloured bruises, suggesting "repeated,non-accidental beating". His small hands were swollen and bruised, which suggested he had "attempted to fend off an assault". He had suffered a very serious brain injury. John died the next day, Friday, August 6, 1993. His mother and her boyfriend were charged with murder shortly afterwards. They were each sentenced to 21 years in jail, reduced to 19 years on appeal, with a minimum of 14 years.