Back in December 2008 I wrote about a little Australian boy, John Erik Ashfield, who was murdered in August 1993 by his mother and her boyfriend. The incident occurred at a time when the memories of what had happened to British toddler James Bulger were still fresh in the minds of the population, and what was claimed to be an assault by local teens turned out to be something far more horrific.
Gunn-Britt Ashfield (now known as Angelic Karstrom) and her boyfriend Austin Allan Hughes had set upon her six year old son as he returned home from Warrilla Primary School one afternoon in the NSW country town of Nowra. Over the next two and a half hours the little boy was beaten relentlessly by his mother and her boyfriend for having supposedly touched his sister inappropriately. When the child was almost lifeless they took him to the local hospital and claimed that he had been found in a park and had been beaten by local youngsters. Little John died from massive head injuries which were found to have been inflicted by a hammer…
The police were not fooled though by the couple’s lies and the repulsive Gunn-Britt Ashfield and Austin Hughes were charged and sentenced to 19 years prison with a minimum of 14 years non-parole period. In 2007 they both applied for parole and were rejected; in June 2009 Ms Ashfield applied once more for parole and again was turned down. If ever a female deserves to rot in prison it is this one, along with the Tracey Connellys’, Myra Hindleys’ and Vanessa Georges’ of this world. The only way to deal with such females is, at the very very least, keep them locked away until their ovaries shrivel up and rot – so that they never get the chance to have and abuse any more children.
Update: Austin Hughes walks free
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Nov 28 2009. I have often, over the years, wondered what had become of the ugly, ghastly piece of work and her equally low life boyfriend that beat her little son to death. Now, today as I’m sorting through stuff in preparation for a move, I have come across a yellowed copy of the Thursday, December 16 1993 issue of the Illawarra Mercury. And there she is complete with name so I can google her and find out she will likely never be paroled. There is a god.
She deserved to hang for what she did – the boyfriend as well – it was a hideous crime and I remember well her greasy, ugly face on the tv news when she was ‘pleading’ for public information. I first heard her ‘pleas’ on the radio in the morning the day after the child died and for that moment believed her as most did – until that same press conference appeared on the tv news that night and we all got to see her…you could tell straight away she was lying through her teeth and it was written all over her face. I believe the police were not fooled from the moment they met her…they know her type of course. That poor little boy and what he went through – there are plenty of people opposed to their release so when you say you hope they rot in prison you know that they actually will.
Hang onto that newspaper though, just for nostalgic reasons
will never happen.to many DO GOODERS here
For better or worse (although one finds it hard to see a “better”), Austin Hughes was paroled today:
“this morning the New South Wales parole authority found it was satisfied he should be released because he has expressed remorse and has strong family ties in the community”.
Yes, that little boy also has ‘strong ties’…siblings who witnessed the whole sickening attack. Unfortunately his dad is dead – through ignorant, unfeeling DOC’s mongrels who refused to give his custody of his son in the first place. That man did everything in his power to get his son away from that woman and he was thwarted at every turn – he committed suicide in the end – how much can a man take…? His story was a Sixty minutes report and they should replay it to remind the public how DOC’s treats fathers who might not be angels themselves but care deeply about their children.
Anyone can ‘feel remorse’ when a get-out-of-jail card is being waved around…
I just heard the news that Austin Allen Hughes has been granted parole and will be free by 29/12/2009…
Any idea about Gunn-Britt Ashfeild/ Angelic Karstrom?
Her parole bid was refused this year and I doubt she will be released anytime soon – but we are watching her case in particular. I feel sick at that bastard getting out, absolutely gutted about it. What a nice xmas present for little John’s siblings.
what goes around comes around
Just shows you how the justice system is there for the criminal. The people that let scum like this out should be held accountable if something happens to another child.
This makes me sick to my stomach, where the heck is justice for little John Ashfield.
Leanne, I am hoping that the family of this little boy receive as much support from the community as possible in fighting the release of this woman – she must stay in prison as long as possible and at the very least until she is no longer able to have any more children. The death of this little boy surely stands as one of the worst cases of DOCS failures ever – these children had a father who wanted them despite his own problems and yet they were kept in that house.
I would like to see the media recount in detail what happened to little John, I want public outrage stirred once more and I want the same level of anger at this crime raised as it was in the UK when Peter Connolly was murdered. The courts must realise that we have not forgotten this little boy – or what this woman looks like…
Angelic Karstrom is having a closed meeting with the parole board no family members or media allowed to attend,with the parole board 1-7-2010 to review there decision to refuse parole . there will be a decision tomorrow afternoon.
Unbelievable. I just hope that those parole board members make the correct decision…her crime is unforgivable.
this bitch should have been left in jail boneyard to rot but instead the N.S.W government changed her name to Angelic (tell thats not havin a crack at us) castrom and re- intergrated her back into the main as a protected species. if our jails were anything like the mens she would have been toppped and beleive me thats exactly how we all felt but to even look at her is an offence for which we cop 3 months segro! what happened to an eye 4 an eye!