❤️HER NAME IS KIARA (SIS) FERGUSON!❤️
In a fit of pique.’
This one statement sums up how the legal system views women and the men responsible for ending their lives.
A single bullet killed her during this so-called ‘fit of pique’. She was trying to keep her daughters safe. They were in the next room. Her unborn baby could not be saved.
Then her family had to watch as her abuser was afforded leniency, empathy and regard while her worth was eroded by the legal system. Her name is Kiara (Sis) Ferguson. She died on April 1, 2023, at her home in Shepparton, Victoria. Kiara was only 27. Her partner, Adam Winmar, was charged with negligent manslaughter, but was convicted on the much lesser charges of reckless conduct endangering life and possessing a firearm as a prohibited person.
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He was sentenced to three months in jail and got a community-based order.
Kiara was pregnant with her third child – a son – when a crude handmade gun was fired in the toilet of the home she adored, her daughters in the next room.
Only two people know the truth of what happened that evening and one of them is dead.
The official version says Kiara’s children found one of Winmar’s rudimental guns hidden in a couch – the same weapon he was waving out the window of the car (captured on Snapchat) earlier in the day.
“She (Kiara) snatched the gun from her and immediately marched to the toilet, where Mr Winmar was sitting with the door open,” the judge’s sentencing remarks read.
“In a fit of pique, she (Kiara) said something like: ‘What have I told you about this?’.
“For then, inexplicably, Ms Ferguson deliberately threw, lobbed or dropped the gun towards Mr Winmar.
“Either way, the gun hit the tiled floor and discharged in consequence.”
Investigators re-enacted the scene repeatedly but were never able to disprove Winmar’s claim about Kiara throwing the gun to the floor because they couldn’t get it to fire in this way.
Winmar was the subject of multiple domestic violence orders – he is a high-risk abuser with a history of violence against women.
Kiara met him when they were teenagers and throughout her relationship she endured extreme acts of violence perpetrated by him.
She believed in keeping her family together – she wanted her daughters to have both parents in their lives and for them to have a home that was welcoming and calm.
Her little house was her pride and joy – it was her sanctuary and the place where she believed her girls and her soon-to-be born son would spend their childhoods.
A proud Yorta Yorta woman, Kiara’s ties with her family were unbreakable.
She devoted every waking hour to her daughters. She had a strong bond with her mum Jo, dad Buddy, brothers Tylar and Daniel and sisters Julie and Karyn.
Her family fought hard to keep her safe throughout her relationship with Winmar, guiding her through the most dangerous of times and standing by her side always.
When I spoke to Jo, Julie and Karyn for the She Matters Podcast, the depth of their love for Kiara was palpable.
“Kiara was funny, very loud and loved being the centre of attention (as a child),” Julie says.
“She is three years older than my oldest daughter, and they were close.
“Kiara taught her things like an older sister would – like handstands and singing to karaoke.”
Jo and Kiara’s bond was more than that of parent and child.
“She was my best friend,” Jo says.
“The only one in the world that would do anything for me.”
Jo and Buddy were deeply proud of Kiara and Tylar, with Jo saying her two younger children were like a pigeon pair.
“Kiara never got to see her brother’s home completed,” she says.
“She would off been so proud of Tylar’s son.
“It’s distressing to know Tylar lost his baby sister and he can’t share his future with her anymore.”
Julie was the first of her family to learn of Kiara’s death.
“I pulled up and police rushed me,” she recalls.
“I was on the phone to my brother Tyler and trying to get onto dad and Jo.
“Winmar came over to me, covered in blood and tried to speak to me.
“I couldn’t hear and was staring at the blood and I could smell it.
“I was in shock.”
Julie’s first thoughts were for the safety of Kiara’s daughters.
“I asked police is where are the girls. They were at a neighbours,” she says.
“I got someone to take them to my place away from chaos that was unfolding.
“As my family started turning up the reality of what happened started kicking in.
“I will never forget dad and Jo getting there. Jos cry and scream. Seeing my dad cry.
“The most traumatic scene you could imagine.
“I was grateful my sister Karyn was there to help calm the situation as best as possible.”
Winmar was originally charged with a minor offence and faced the Koori court where the elders delivered a stern reprimand.
Then his case moved to the criminal court after police laid the manslaughter charge.
While he awaited the final court date, he severely brutalised another woman and served time.
When it came to the final sentencing on the reduced charges, the family hoped he would serve 12 months. Instead, he was given three months.
Winmar got off so lightly because the defence convinced the court he had not seen his children (this was his choice) and because his cultural background was seen as a negative.
“We’re an Aboriginal family – we’re pretty shocked that you would use Aboriginality as a legal strategy to get off – to get a lighter sentence,” Karen says.
“So that’s not what that means to us.
“Even the psychologist report says there were no signs of remorse.”
Jo and Buddy are now raising Kiara’s children. It is both a privilege and a struggle. They should be thinking about retirement, but that plan is far away.
“It’s been challenging, to say the least,” Jo says.
“Because you come from being that fun grandparent that turned up and had a sleepover or took them home and did fun things, to now becoming the parent and having to say ‘No, we have to go to school’.
“And we also need to navigate them through the grief.
“It’s another broken system.
“I would like to see statistics on how many grandparents are raising their grandchildren because of violent relationships.
“I know I am not alone.”
Jo and Buddy are still fighting to have permanent care and decision-making for their granddaughters.
Every day is a struggle and there’s no relief in sight.
“I put up barriers as I was so broken,” she says.
“The only way I could deal with it was to put everything deep down in my brain and soldier on at the cost of losing valuable time with my son husband and new grandson.
“Now I feel i have a task ahead to accept all that has happened and accept I will be raising my grandbabies and not be able to watch my beautiful daughter grow as a mother.”
KIARA (SIS) FERGUSON & HER UNBORN SON MATTER❤️
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