❤️HER NAME IS: COURTNEY HERRON!❤️
At the intersection of Johnston and Gore in Collingwood, the face of a young smiling woman watches you pass by.
Say her name to any Melbournian and they’ll tell you what they were doing when they heard the news about her murder.
Her name is Courtney Herron. She was only 25. Henry Richard Hammond beat Courtney to death not far from that mural. He killed her in Royal Park, Parkville, on May 25, 2019.
Courtney ran into Hammond on a tram in the city. She’d met him at a festival some weeks earlier but did not know him well. She gave him a smoke – she was the kind of woman who would give a stranger her last dollar.
He was homeless and hungry. Courtney bought him dinner. They went to a party and later for a walk through Royal Park. Afterward, the media would allude to a sexual relationship but this was far from the truth – she was just being Courtney – kind, caring, considerate.
At the park, he picked up a branch.
Courtney turned to him. ‘Are you going to kill me?”, she asked.
The details of his brutal actions will not be re-shared here.
A court determined he was suffering psychosis when he murdered Courtney. He was found not guilty due to mental impairment and ordered to reside in a secure forensic facility.
In the wake of Courtney’s death, media ran some shocking stories about Courtney – there were stories implying she was sexually involved with him, that she was homeless and that her ‘kindness killed her’. Media zoned in on Hammond being the son of wealthy parents and having – as the Daily Mail so kindly called it – ‘model good looks’.
Not long before killing Courtney, a judge allowed him to walk free from prison despite almost ending the life of his previous partner by strangulation. He was supposed to be monitored but was not – the system’s failure to make hm abide by court orders is a key factor in Courtney’s murder.
Now, Hammond is being prepared for release into the community, a move opposed by all who love Courtney.
Many words have been spoken about Courtney – many headlines published, many lies and myths spread.
But since that day more than six years ago, the two people closest to Courtney have bided their time in the shadows, waiting for the chance to speak her truth.
It is not an easy truth to tell.
Courtney is the eldest of three children. Her mum Metaxia (Maxxi) Antoniou and her sister Sian recently sat down with me for the She Matters podcast.
They were incredibly open about the woman they will never not miss and grieve.
Courtney was using drugs – a struggle she’d faced since her teen years and one she tried to control. Around three weeks before her death, she was sectioned in a psychiatric ward for drug-induced psychosis.
Her mum knew she would faced sexual exploitation in this state and so she warned the hospital staff – they did not listen.
A male patient raped Courtney that evening.
“They asked if she wanted to prosecute,” Maxxi says.
“And I said ‘Who? The hospital in your negligence. She was essentially raped by the hospital.
“I knew she would not want to prosecute – it was just another layer of trauma and grief.”
There was so much more to Courtney than trauma, substance use and heartache.
Courtney’s arrival in this world was tough – she suffered a severe infection.
“You could tell she had a really good nature despite the infection and she fought through that,” Maxxi remembers.
“I think that kind of summarizes who Courtney is.
“She was a battler from the beginning and never gave up and just went through it.
“But as she grew up, she was so sassy.
“She was super kind, super loving.
“She loved her family, especially her Greek family.
“She was just like a little tomboy.
“Really loving nature.”
Courtney started taking drugs in high school, mainly because ‘she wanted to be cool’, Maxxi says.
Things escalated and she went from smoking grass to using meth.
Maxxi supported Courtney the best she could, always ensuring she had a place to stay and trying to guide her onto a different path.
When Courtney was 19, she found herself working for the DHS unexpectedly. Her job was to help young people and she embraced it. So good was she at the job that she was on the verge of making a career of it.
But, her mum describes a ‘sliding door’ moment.
Courtney had a run in with police and as a result had to face court. Knowing her job was at risk, she begged the court to give her leniency but that was denied. The charge was recorded and she lost her job.
The employer saw she had this charge and they took the job away from her. And I think that destroyed Courtney,” Maxxi says.
Courtney never fully recovered from this blow but she worked where she could and lived on and off with Maxxi and Sian.
The addiction, in many ways, fractured the relationship between Courtney and Sian but it’s clear there was a deep bond between them. Sian remembers her sister as a talented artist, a talented pianist – a girl and young woman who laughed, danced and reverberated with joy.
The last time Sian saw her big sister was through a glass window at the hospital.
Sian was only 11. She never got to say goodbye to Courtney.
“The one thing I’ve kind of learnt from her death is that although there’s bad, there’s also good,” Sian says.
“Her whole life taught me that because there was a lot of bad.
“But she was such a good person with a kind heart. She didn’t mean to hurt me. She didn’t mean to hurt Mom.
“She was trying to do good and she was good.
“She was the best. She was the sweetest girl ever – she had no bone of evil in her body. You have to keep remembering the good.”
Importantly, Maxxi says, Courtney ‘was loved and she loved’.
“It’s really important she knew that (love) was her safe place – everyone deserves that.”
❤️COURTNEY HERRON MATTERS!❤️
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