The evil man who hid under my bed, waiting to murder my mother with a claw hammer, is about to be released. And now I’m scared for every woman in Australia.

Wayne Frederick Valenta murdered my mother Deborah Leanne Boyd on July 16, 2000, using a claw hammer - in the most violent and dreadful way imaginable. I was 15 and my brother, who discovered my mother's body, was 17. After 21 years, the Prisoners Review Board want to prepare Valenta for release in a program called the Re-Socialisation Program.

He will get to live at a minimum security prison farm and have the opportunity to go on day and overnight release in the community.

The Prisoners Review Board have made this recommendation to the WA Attorney General John Quigley.

It is now in Attorney General Quigley’s hands, and I am asking you to sign this petition to demand he reject the Board’s recommendation. I have not been provided with any proof that Valenta is no longer a risk to women, and that there is no longer a risk of doing what he did to my mother again. The Prisoners Review Board have not explained to my family why they believe Valenta is ready for release, but this is why I know he is not.

I feel we as a community need to make sure the Attorney General understands if Valenta is released, he will be accountable if any woman in our community is hurt. And women will feel less safe in our community.

Make up your own mind about whether Valenta is a risk to women after you read the following about what he did to my mother and my family:

Valenta’s decision to murder my mother wasn’t made on the spur of the moment. He was cold and calculated. He planned the entire crime meticulously, and he also planned to get away with it. He wore gloves and disposed of the hammer and bloodied clothing.

He had only been seeing my mother for six months, and he knew my mother meant the world to my brother and I.  

That didn’t stop Valenta breaking into our home and hiding under my bed for three hours, as he waited for my mother to wake up, and walk down stairs to get ready for work. When she finally did, Valenta poked his head out. In a confession Valenta made to one of his family members (who was working with the police to secretly record him), he said:

“That’s when I donged her. Bang. Bang. Bang. And she fell, and when she hit the ground, I went bang, bang for good measure.”

I had to listen to this in court a year later, as a 17-year-old. My mother was only 38. 

I have a daughter the same age I was when my mother was murdered. My heart breaks whenever I hear of domestic violence story that ends in a child growing up without their mother, because yet another man feels entitled to kill her. Why is this still happening 21 years after my mother died? Last year, 55 women were violently killed in Australia. But is that really any surprise when men like Valenta are released after not much more than 20 years?

Really, this is not about me. It’s not about my family either. Sure, I worry for my safety. I really worry my grandmother’s safety. But who I am really scared for is the next woman who Valenta has a relationship with, just like my mum. 

Valenta is only 53 years old. He has plenty of time to find a partner.  

Valenta was always on the path to murdering my mother. He’s seen women as his possessions his whole adult life. In the 12 years before he murdered my mother, he viciously assaulted three other current and former partners. That’s only what he was caught for. 

A year before he met my mother, Valenta was released from prison for stabbing his ex-partner with a pen. We had no idea about any of this. No one told my mother. Our family thought butter wouldn’t melt in Valenta’s mouth when he was first welcomed into our family, but once he moved in, he couldn’t hide his violent and abusive ways. My mother was extremely strong willed, and she wouldn’t cop it. She told Valenta he had to leave. Then the stalking began.

When he chased my mother’s car down, spitting on it, the police helped us take a restraining order out against him. That didn’t stop Valenta breaking into our home to watch us sleep. Just two weeks before he murdered my mother, he admitted to breaking into our home at night and standing over my mother while she slept, wearing rubber gloves, while he thought about strangling her.

All of what I have said above are facts. They can be read in Justice Miller’s sentencing remarks (28/09/2001).

Valenta was one of the most cunning and calculated individuals Justice Miller had ever seen. In sentencing Valenta, Justice Miller said:  

“I am of the opinion that the particular circumstances of this crime make it amongst the most serious of the crime of wilful murder. This is because it was entirely premeditated. The violence with which the deceased was struck was extreme.”

But Justice Miller was restricted by the law in how he could sentence Valenta. He gave him a Life Sentence (meaning he could never be released), but had to give a 20-year minimum because of his guilty plea. But Valenta only plead guilty because his confession was secretly recorded. He had no remorse.

The 20-year minimum was only meant to apply if Valenta showed remorse, and demonstrated he was no longer a danger to women.  

Just three days before he took my mother’s life, he asked his work mate: “how does it feel to know you are going to know a murderer?” He showed the same work mate a hammer, and asked: “how many times do you reckon it would take to kill her if I smashed her in the head with it?” After he killed my mother, he told an undercover police officer embedded in his cell: “It felt like f***ing 20 tonnes just fell off my f***ing shoulders” after he killed my mother.

If that is the pleasure Valenta felt when he killed our mother, I believe he will always be a risk to other women. No one has ever told me that he has expressed he is sorry for it. And if he does now, it’s because his freedom is at risk. 

Finally, why I am so worried is because the Attorney General has expressed to us in a letter that he has faith in the decision making of the Prisoners Review Board. My mother and my family are no longer taken into account by the justice system. 

But what will sway the Attorney General’s decision is if the community take a stand and tell him that Valenta has not shown the public that he is no longer a risk to women.

Please sign this petition if you don’t want Attorney General John Quigley to sign off on Valenta joining the Re-Socialisation Program. It will mean Valenta is about to be released.

Thank you, Melissa