❤️SHE MATTERS: VELVET CRYSTAL SKY PESU!❤️
‘She was extremely amazing and we loved her a lot.’
I hate that every year there has to be a first. Putting the last woman on the toll each year is always hard but for what seems the briefest moment, I hope the next year will be different. It never is.
And so Velvet Crystal Sky Pesu – singer, care worker, mother, sister, aunt, partner, friend, colleague, neighbour – becomes the first Australian woman confirmed lost to violence this year.
Velvet was found dead at a home in Buccan, Queensland, on Monday, January 12, 2026. She went missing just two days earlier. Just now, Queensland Police have issued an arrest warrant for one of her clients. As it almost always is, a man known to her.
Velvet is the 1st Australian woman killed in 2026. Last year we lost 77 women to violence – the year before 105 women were killed. Wael Abdallah Saleem Alfar is wanted for Velvet’s murder and will be extradited to Queensland from NSW.
I have spoken to Velvet’s family members these past few days. What is clear from these conversations is the deep love everyone has for her.
A popular singer, an icon of the Woodford Folk Festival, an adored colleague – she is so many things to so many people.
“She would go out really late and help out homeless people and we would go to a bakery and get pastries and give them to people,” Velvet’s daughters said.
“She was very creative and generous.
“She bought instruments for the kids in Zimbabwe to learn about their culture and to acknowledge their music.
“She was extremely amazing and we loved her a lot.”
I wish there didn’t have to be a first. I wish I didn’t have to write her name and add her to the femicide toll of 2026.
VELVET CRYSTAL SKY PESU MATTERS ❤️
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