Tara Costigan was murdered in 2015, one day after taking out a DVO on her ex-partner Marcus Rappel. The day he laid a finger on her was the day he murdered her. Before that the abuse had been verbal. Emotional.
Tara did everything ‘right’. She followed advice and took steps in the system designed to protect her, even though she was nervous about how he might react.
And then she died, in the most horrendous of ways, while cradling her one-week-old daughter. Her murder changed the fabric of Canberra and the conversation surrounding domestic violence.
THE END BITS
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Guest: Heidi Lemon author of The First Time He Hit Her
Host: Gemma Bath
Executive Producer: Gia Moylan
Audio Producer: Scott Stronach
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Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.