Louise, whose identity is concealed for safety reasons, ended her brief and tumultuous relationship with a man she met through the horse racing industry. A few months later, he tracked her to her home and brutally stabbed her dog, Indie, 12 times after Louise refused to see him again. The incident was initially mistaken as burglary but was later classified as family violence. Louise only recently feels safe enough to speak about this event four years after the crime, following a lengthy court case that led to her ex-partner serving jail time. This story highlights pet abuse as an indicator of coercive control and raises awareness about the need for shelters to accommodate pets in cases of domestic violence.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-10,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Warning: This story contains graphic content.
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story → contain → content
The relationship Louise* had with a man she met through working in the horse racing industry was relatively brief, and never felt substantial.
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she → have → industry
It was “very on-and-off, not overly serious, very hot and cold”, says the 28-year-old.
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old → say → ?
“It got a bit weird towards the end,” she says.
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she → get → end
“He would throw almost tantrums, throw himself on the ground and carry on – I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t like this’.”
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I → throw → this
He also felt slighted that her adored Staffordshire cross, Indie, didn’t like him during the months they were together.
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they → feel → months
“I said, ‘What are you talking about?
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you → say → What
She likes everyone’, but he said, ‘No, she growls at me’,” Louise says.
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Louise → like → me
Louise, who cannot be identified for safety reasons, believed ending the relationship had not caused lasting problems.
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ending → identify → problems
A couple of months later the man messaged her insisting he needed to see her at her home.
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he → message → home
‘You’re not coming over, I’m not even home, for starters’ …
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I → come → starters
There were heaps of messages back and forth of him going, ‘Nope, I’m coming’.”
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I → be → messages
It was later revealed that he probably already knew Louise was not home because he was tracking her electronically.
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he → reveal → her
When she returned home about 9pm with her brother, who was also her housemate, the pair could not find Indie inside or in the dark yard.
uncertain
pair → return → yard
Louise noticed blood, but thought Indie and the other dog in the home had caught a bird.
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Indie → notice → bird
She had work at 3am so her brother suggested she leave him to search and get some sleep.
uncertain
she → have → sleep
Louise’s brother woke her about midnight to say he had found Indie in a garden bed at the very bottom of the property.
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he → wake → property
The other dog’s crying had led him to her.
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crying → lead → her
“She was lying there almost perfectly,” Louise says.
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Louise → lie → ?
“She’d been stabbed 12 times.
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She → stab → ?
“When the sun came up, you could see there was blood everywhere, up on the fences, all over the pavement.
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you → come → pavement
My dog was lying so perfectly with this massive hole in the back of her neck.”
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dog → lie → neck
Police initially believed burglars had killed Indie with a kitchen knife to silence her.
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burglars → believe → her
But after Louise took her for an autopsy and listened to a CCTV recording from a neighbour’s house the case was recognised as family violence and her ex-partner as the suspect.
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- → take → suspect
Only now, after a four-year court ordeal that led to her former partner serving jail time, can Louise speak to a journalist about what happened.
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what → lead → journalist
She wants to raise awareness about this devastating form of violence.
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She → want → violence
Harming animals is known as a serious warning sign among researchers and in Australia’s family violence sector, but few refuges enable women and children to take pets with them.
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refuges → harm → them
Awareness and momentum is now building around pet abuse and harm as a form of coercive control.
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Awareness → build → control
Ged Kearney, the assistant minister for social services and the prevention of family violence, shared her own experience at the August launch in Canberra of a road map to better protect people and animals from family violence, by not-for-profit Lucy’s Project.
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Kearney → share → Project
Kearney revealed a former partner had killed her cat.
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partner → reveal → cat
Before Indie’s death, it hadn’t crossed Louise’s mind that such things happened: “I didn’t even know that [pet abuse to harm partners or an ex] was a thing.”
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abuse → cross → partners
Killing or harming pets is documented as often a precursor to escalating violence, as happened in the murder of NSW mother Molly Ticehurst.
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Killing → kill → Ticehurst
The 28-year-old childcare worker’s dachshund puppy was killed by Daniel Billings, the man later convicted of Ticehurst’s murder.
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puppy → kill → murder
Detective Acting Sergeant Maddison Steadfast, the Melbourne family violence investigator who took over Louise’s case, says some offenders harm or kill the pets of their partners or ex-partners “purely as a way for them to exert power, control or even jealousy”.
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them → take → power
“In this incident, I can only speculate this was a matter of control,” Steadfast says.
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Steadfast → speculate → control
Louise’s ex-partner was jailed for five months on appeal and was recently released.
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partner → jail → appeal
Monique Dam, the chief executive of Lucy’s Project, says Australia lacks data collection on the incidence of violence against pets in family violence settings.
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Australia → say → settings
Improving its collection is among urgent changes required to better protect them and their owners, who often stay in danger rather than flee without pets.
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who → improve → pets
Lucy’s Project has advocated for 13 years for better recognition of the intersection between animal abuse and family violence.
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Project → advocate → abuse
“For so long it has been overlooked,” Dam says.
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Dam → overlook → ?
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
