A teenager who survived an attempted murder-suicide at the hands of her father, who killed her younger sister, has broken her silence.
It’s been about 10 years since Juliette Playford’s father, Stephen, tried to kill his family and then himself.
He succeeded in killing Ms Playford’s younger sister, Sidney, just days after her sixth birthday.
“He broke us, he murdered my sister and murdered my innocence,” Ms Playford told 60 Minutes.
“I wasn’t a child afterwards.”
Now that she’s 18, Ms Playford has broken her silence to shed light on the system she claims “failed” her as a child survivor of domestic violence.
Camera IconJuliette Playford and her sister, Sidney. 60 Minutes Credit: Supplied Source KnownCamera IconMs Playford has spoken of how she ‘wasn’t a child’ after her father tried to kill her and killed her younger sister. Supplied. Credit: Supplied Source Known
It was Father’s Day in 2015 when Playford put sleeping pills in his family’s food.
“He cooked dinner for us and I remember falling asleep,” Ms Playford told 60 Minutes.
Eight at the time, Ms Playford was then woken up by her father, who was on top of her and strangling her.
She managed to escape his grip and run from her bedroom, but he grabbed a gas cylinder and put a mask over her face, knocking her unconscious.
“I remember his eyes just looking directly at me … he had the same face he always had on, which was like a tight-lipped smile,” Ms Playford said.
He took her back upstairs and continued strangling her; however, she again managed to wrestle him away, running to her mum’s room yelling “he tried to kill me”.
Camera IconStephen Playford was handed a life sentence over Sidney’s murder. 60 Minutes Credit: Supplied Source KnownCamera IconPlayford with his daughter, Sidney. 60 Minutes Credit: Supplied Source Known
Playford then lied and said Juliette had been having a nightmare that her mother Maria – who herself had been drugged – believed.
Playford fled the home, leaving Juliette and her mother to wake up and find Sidney’s dead body the following morning.
“My mum’s screaming and I run to the bedroom, and my sister’s dead on her bed,” Juliette said.
“I just remember them putting a white sheet or something, something like that, over my head and walking me to the police car.”
Her father had blown their savings on gambling before the murder, having threatened to take the kids away when Maria asked for a divorce.
Camera IconPlayford with his wife Maria and Juliette and Sidney. 60 Minutes Credit: Supplied Source Known
He was handed a life sentence after he confessed to Sidney’s murder and the attempted murder of Juliette.
‘I hate him for what he did’
Juliette described him as an “authoritarian”, “traditional 60s man”.
When asked how she felt about him now, Juliette asked for permission to swear, saying “he’s a son of a b–ch”.
“I hate him for what he did,” she said.
“He himself wanted to die, and he was like, ‘Well, I don’t want to leave them’.
“And so he justified trying to kill us ‘cause what he was planning was a … murder-suicide.
“I feel like he wanted us to be together in his own sick, twisted way.”
Juliette said the system had failed her and Maria, telling the program that children are often overlooked as victims of domestic and family violence.
Camera IconJuliette and Maria. 60 Minutes Credit: Supplied Source KnownCamera IconJuliette said no one asked how she was after her sister was murdered by her father. 60 Minutes. Credit: Supplied Source Known
She described how people had asked her mum how she was in the aftermath of Sidney’s murder, while she was simply being handed stuffed animals.
“No one asked me how I was,” she said.
Maria told the program how Juliette had struggled with her mental health in the years following.
“Do you think Juliette was treated as a victim in her own right?” she was asked.
“No, she wasn’t,” she replied.
Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner Anne Holland said getting serious about ending violence in childhood was crucial to ending gender-based violence.
“What I want is for us as the adults in the room and governments to respond to the voices of young people like them and to make sure that we act on what they tell us,” Ms Holland told 60 Minutes.
She pushed for the creation of a cabinet minister for children, telling the program that she’s worried about “the lack of attention to making child safety and wellbeing a priority”.
“Children have not been elevated in the way that other issues have,” she said.
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