Gillian Meagher (/mɑːr/ MAR; née McKeon) was a 29-year-old Irish woman living in Australia who was raped and murdered while walking home from a pub in Brunswick, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, in the early hours of 22 September 2012.
The video was provided to them by an employee of the Duchess Boutique, a bridal shop based on Sydney Road near Hope Street.
Prior to receiving the CCTV video from the Duchess Boutique on 25 September, they had thoroughly searched the Meaghers' flat and took away some possessions, including their car, for testing.
After receiving the video, attention switched to looking for the man in the blue hoodie, though a second search of the Meaghers' flat took place on the evening of 25 September, with more items removed for testing.
[15] At about 2:30 pm on 27 September, police arrested Adrian Ernest Bayley, then 41, at his address in Coburg, and then questioned him at great length.
[16] At around 10:00 pm on 27 September, Bayley led police to where Meagher's body was buried in a shallow grave on Black Hill Road near Gisborne South.
[17] Bayley was charged with rape and murder at about 2:00 am on 28 September and, followed by an out-of-sessions hearing at 3:00 am that lasted for about 90 seconds, was held on remand to await trial.
[20][21][22][23] On the date of the pre-sentencing hearing, a suppression order was also lifted by Justice Geoffrey Nettle allowing Bayley's "extensive history of rape and violence" to be revealed and these also generated headlines.
[24][25] On 19 June 2013, in front of a packed public gallery at the Victorian Supreme Court, Bayley was sentenced by Justice Nettle to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 35 years.
The appeal argued that the minimum sentence was too long and that he had not taken "perverted pleasure" in murdering Meagher as stated by Justice Nettle.
On 26 September 2013, the appeal was dismissed in less than 10 minutes[28] after "hearing argument from counsel on both sides over [approximately one and a half hours]" "during the days beforehand".
The victims, two sex workers and a Dutch backpacker, came forward due to the high level of publicity over Meagher's rape and murder.
[32] In July 2016, Bayley lodged an appeal against one rape conviction and was a given three-year reduction to his sentence, making him eligible for parole in 2055, aged 83.
[37] By late June 2013, there was a substantial tightening of Victoria's parole laws, which came about as the direct result of women such as Meagher being attacked and killed by parolees.
"[49] Many thousands of comments of public grief and sympathy, as well as ones aggressive to Bayley, appeared on social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.
[52] Thousands of flower bouquets began to appear at numerous locations associated with Meagher, most notably outside the Duchess Boutique and the nearby Brunswick Baptist Church, the latter being near the scene of her disappearance.
Some of these bouquets appeared there during the time that Meagher went missing, but their numbers increased sharply following the news of the discovery of her body on 28 September.
[56] A public march, organised by Melbourne photographer Phillip Werner, took place on 30 September 2012, two days after the discovery and recovery of Meagher's body.
They also asked that the public respect their privacy at the funeral service and cremation, which took place at Melbourne's Fawkner Memorial Park on 4 October 2012.
[61][62][63] In Meagher's home town of Drogheda, an informal memorial service was held at St Oliver's Community College on 28 September 2012.
[64] A formal memorial Mass was held for Meagher at St Peter's Church in Drogheda on 5 October 2012 shortly after her funeral and cremation in Melbourne.
A statement delivered in the Victorian parliament on 27 November indicated that it had been attended by 170 people, it had begun with a moment's silence for Meagher and a series of presentations by representatives of organisations such as Victoria Police and White Ribbon took place, with significant time set aside for any questions or comments.
[citation needed] A condolence book for Meagher has been set up on the Legacy Australia website by the Herald Sun newspaper.
He briefly returned to Australia in November 2014 to promote the White Ribbon movement – a campaign to stop violence against women.
[70] On 17 April 2014, Tom Meagher wrote an essay on the White Ribbon website, "The Danger of the Monster Myth", about public stereotypes of rapists.
[75][76] In November 2013, there was controversy when a Victoria Police detective senior sergeant showed a photograph of Meagher's semi-naked body in her gravesite near Gisborne South to a large audience at a Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia fundraiser as part of an hour-long talk on homicide.
A stonemason placed an engraved 50 kilogram granite slab and memorial plaque at the Black Hill Road, Gisborne South site where Meagher's body was found.
The Melton City Council later removed the memorial "with the permission of the family and in consideration of the Black Hill Road community".
[81] A street art memorial called "RIP Jill" was created in Hosier Lane, Melbourne, by an unknown artist in September 2012.
"[82] Of the transient nature of such works, the Premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu, said that "The tribute to Jill Meagher was created very much in the spirit of Hosier Lane, an iconic part of Melbourne, and no doubt that will continue.