Experts divided on mental health of Molly Ticehurst’s killer
Posted Fri 4 Sep 2026 at 3:32pmFri 4 Sep 2026 at 3:32pmFri 4 Sep 2026 at 3:32pm
In short:
Daniel Billings has pleaded guilty to the domestic violence murder of Molly Ticehurst in her Forbes home.
His mental health at the time of the crime has been debated during a sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court.
What’s next?
Justice Natalie Adams will hand down the sentence next week.
A friend of murdered childcare worker Molly Ticehurst said sitting in the same room as her killer has been “extremely confronting”.
Daniel Billings has pleaded guilty to murdering the 28-year-old mother of one in the NSW Central West town of Forbes on the night April 21, 2024.
He was on bail for other charges against Ms Ticehurst, including four counts of sexual assault, when he broke into her bedroom window late on a Sunday night and stabbed her more than a dozen times.
During the second day of his sentence hearing, the Supreme Court in Orange heard Billings had an “obsessive fixation” over how rape allegations made by his ex-partner would impact his future.
The sexual assault charges were discontinued in November 2025 when he pleaded guilty to murder.
Aidan Clarke said it had been “distressing” to be so near to his childhood friend’s killer and watch lengthy videos recorded by Billings in the lead-up to and after the murder that were played in court.
“In Australia, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people do suffer from mental illness and they wake up every day and don’t murder someone,” Mr Clarke said outside court.
Billings’s mental state examined
On Thursday the defence’s forensic psychiatrist Dr Olav Nielssen concluded that Billings’s severe depression amounted to a form of impairment that affected his perception of events.
Today the crown’s forensic psychiatrist Dr David Greenberg said the murder was more strongly linked to Billings’s anger towards Ms Ticehurst.
“He’s very angry because he feels he’s been slighted,” he said.
“He may be ruminating because he’s obsessed with the victim.
“I’m not dismissing his depression because [it was] a significant issue … but there is other information that suggests there are other factors involved.”
Dr Greenberg told the court the context of six months of domestic violence and coercive control was significant.
He said the offender’s multiple threats of suicide were made in the context of domestic violence, and that Billings planned to kill Ms Ticehurst in a murder-suicide.
“It’s not an isolated depression and suicide, this is the context of murder and suicide,” he said.
“[It] was certainly something that he referred to on more than one occasion.
“We can speculate about whether [suicide threats] were related to his depression, but in my opinion … it may be related to his anger towards the deceased,” he told the court.
Defence barrister Sarah Talbert told the court it was the allegation of sexual assault that caused the offender’s “catastrophic and tragic escalation”.
“That is primarily linked to his hopelessness … despair and nihilism about the effects of the allegations on his life,” she said.
“There is an obsessive fixation … since he’s been arrested for those allegations and what they would mean for his future.”
Justice Natalie Adams told the court the sentence will “boil down to” finding whether his depressive illness contributed to the commission of the offence in a material way.
“Is it your finding that it may have contributed but not in a material way?” Justice Adams asked crown prosecutor Lee Carr SC.
“Yes, that’s the crown’s position,” Mr Carr said.
Letter of remorse released
Justice Adams will hand down a sentence next week, and told the court there were no cases where a sentence has not been reduced for an offender who has pleaded guilty.
Court documents which have been released during the sentence hearing include an apology letter written by Billings in April 2026.
“How do I feel for what I done? I feel horrible, ashamed, I’ve ruined so many lives,” the letter read.
The New South Wales government reformed its bail legislation in the wake of her death which is colloquially called ‘Molly’s Law.’
The changes meant alleged offenders on bail for serious domestic violence offences must wear an ankle monitor, and convince a judge why they should be bailed in the first place.