Post by admin on Jul 29, 2011 8:56:37 GMT 10
A woman who beat her six-year-old son to death with a hammer is expected to be granted parole on Friday.
Gunn-Britt Ashfield, 43, has served 18 years in jail for the 1993 murder of her son John Ashfield in Nowra, on the NSW south coast.
Ashfield, with her then partner Austin Allan Hughes, initially pretended the boy was attacked by a teenage gang in a park, before confessing to the killing.
The pair attacked the boy in front of his four siblings over the course of several hours at their home.
At one point they placed a telephone book on his head, then repeatedly hit him with a hammer.
The boy died the next day in hospital.
The NSW Parole Authority in June held a closed preliminary hearing, at which it indicated it would grant Ashfield parole at her public hearing on Friday, a spokeswoman told AAP.
Ashfield and Hughes were jailed for a maximum 21 years, but their terms were reduced on appeal to 19 years, to serve a minimum of 14.
Hughes was paroled in 2009.
Ashfield, now known as Angelic Karstrom, has been denied parole for the past four years.
She has one year of her sentence left, but the authority prefers she be paroled so she can be monitored in the community.
Her conditions include drug and alcohol testing, a curfew and living in approved housing.
If she served her entire sentence, Ashfield would walk free with no conditions placed on her, the spokeswoman said.
On Friday, the Parole Authority will consider submissions from John's siblings before finalising its decision.
Ashfield is expected to appear in Parramatta court via video link.
Gunn-Britt Ashfield, 43, has served 18 years in jail for the 1993 murder of her son John Ashfield in Nowra, on the NSW south coast.
Ashfield, with her then partner Austin Allan Hughes, initially pretended the boy was attacked by a teenage gang in a park, before confessing to the killing.
The pair attacked the boy in front of his four siblings over the course of several hours at their home.
At one point they placed a telephone book on his head, then repeatedly hit him with a hammer.
The boy died the next day in hospital.
The NSW Parole Authority in June held a closed preliminary hearing, at which it indicated it would grant Ashfield parole at her public hearing on Friday, a spokeswoman told AAP.
Ashfield and Hughes were jailed for a maximum 21 years, but their terms were reduced on appeal to 19 years, to serve a minimum of 14.
Hughes was paroled in 2009.
Ashfield, now known as Angelic Karstrom, has been denied parole for the past four years.
She has one year of her sentence left, but the authority prefers she be paroled so she can be monitored in the community.
Her conditions include drug and alcohol testing, a curfew and living in approved housing.
If she served her entire sentence, Ashfield would walk free with no conditions placed on her, the spokeswoman said.
On Friday, the Parole Authority will consider submissions from John's siblings before finalising its decision.
Ashfield is expected to appear in Parramatta court via video link.