Noeline Dalzell’s family remembers her as a lioness who did everything to protect her children.
A man who stabbed his ex-partner to death in front of her three children at Seaford in Victoria has been jailed for more than two-decades.
Those instincts rubbed off onto her three children,who on February 4,2020,put themselves between her and their father,James Fairhall,and screamed at him to leave her alone.
However,as they shielded their mother in the corner of a bedroom in their home in Seaford,in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs,Fairhall reached over the children and stabbed his former partner in the neck with a knife,inflicting a fatal wound.
Dalzell made it out of the house as her son tackled Fairhall to the floor,and she told a neighbour to call the police. But the 49-year-old collapsed and died soon after.
Fairhall was jailed for 25 years on Friday after. Supreme Court Justice Jane Dixon told him his actions – committed while alcohol-affected and jealous of his former partner’s new relationship – were a serious example of family violence that had.
Noeline Dalzell was murdered by her former partner.Supplied
“The tragic legacy of your crime is that your three children have effectively lost both parents as a result of your actions,” Dixon told Fairhall,47,ordering he serve 18½ years before he is eligible for parole.
The three children were 13,15 and 16 at the time of their mother’s murder. The younger two now live with their mother’s brother,Malcolm,and his wife,Jenny,who say while the teenagers can now get some closure,they will be dealing with the tragedy for the rest of their lives.
“These kids have not only lost their mum,but they’ve lost their dad,too ... there’s no worse crime,” Jenny Dalzell said outside court.
“...[Noeline] was a lioness,she protected those children and that just showed in the kids’ evidence,that when the act was happening the children were protecting her.”
James Fairhall (in grey) outside the Supreme Court on Friday.Nine News
Dixon said no one should have to fear for their life when they ended or started a new relationship,and Fairhall’s crime had created “an enormous hole” in the lives of his children.
The teens of the sadness and daily struggles they endured,and the heartbreak of knowing their mother wouldn’t be a part of their lives.
“Three young lives forever changed by your despicable violence,” the judge said on Friday.
Fairhall was found guilty of murder in December after contesting at trial that he intended to kill his former partner.
A past court sketch of James Fairhall.ABC News
The trial heard he and Dalzell had separated,but Fairhall was staying with his former partner and their children,sleeping on the couch. The adults were getting along until Fairhall learned Dalzell had begun a relationship with another man.
While drunk,Fairhall became enraged and held a knife against Dalzell while they were in the lounge. When she walked away,he pursued her through the house and stabbed her.
Dixon on Friday said Fairhall was a chronic alcoholic,whose parents were the same and who began drinking in his teens.
He has past convictions for alcohol-fuelled violence and he was prosecuted for breaching family violence intervention orders five times between 2013 and 2019,mostly by attending Dalzell’s home when drunk.
He spent time in prison for the last of those breaches and was released three months before the murder.
Malcolm and Jenny Dalzell now plan to advocate against family violence. They also want the death investigated by a coroner over the warning signs about Fairhall’s behaviour,and the failure by authorities to install protections for the mother and her children,given his alcoholism and past offending.
“No amount of time will ever bring her back,” Jenny Dalzell said. “We just have to be strong. And hopefully something like this doesn’t happen to another family.”
If you or anyone you know needs support,you can contact the National Sexual Assault,Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on (1800 737 732), 131 114,or 1300 224 636.