Young woman tragically killed by man she met on dating app | 60 Minutes Australia

she was a powerful person, she was energy, everyone's friend, she had a smile, she could walk into a room and light it up Danielle wanted love, he was the first boyfriend we met, they seemed to click, but after meeting on a

dating

app this coward took his own life it was a murder waiting to happen, I think so tonight on 60 Minutes Ashley Gaddy was a serious domestic violence offender five women had detained violence orders issued against him the shameful problem that was affecting Australia if he hadn't been in Bale Danny would be alive today, that's next on 60 Minutes.

Danielle Finlay Jones should be alive today during the week, she should be teaching students at the school where she worked and on the weekends she should be playing sports and hanging out with her friends. Instead, she is dead, another victim. of domestic violence, although her family doesn't want her precious Danny to be a statistic, they want the system that failed her to be fixed. You see that her killer, who she met looking for love on a

dating

app, had a long history of violence against women, but Dany didn't know about his past or that he was out on bail at the time and without warning she didn't stand a chance. to get a seat and watch their first home game.

I hope they win, it will be good, yes we will. If they start sucking, shut up, it's a beautiful autumn day in South Sydney where the Ramsgate Rams women's football club is hoping for a win. Jackie Finlay Jones and her son Blake have come to cheer the girls on, wow, wow, so what better way than to come meet new people, kick a ball around, enjoy your weekends. His girl Danny played for the club for 25 years and was team captain. She had a smile. She could walk into a room and light it up. She was always willing to go above and beyond. to help people he would find friends he would talk to anyone wherever he was he would bring them into the group and he just had a beautiful soul come on let's see Danny's presence is everywhere here with the black armbands noticed by the players and his passionate singing from the team dad who we are dad who we are dad all the time but her beloved captain will never score another goal or fall in love or start a family her absence was deeply felt by all who loved her what is it like for now Jackie returning to watch the girls play um, I found it very difficult God, yes, she's not there, take your time, okay, um, it was very difficult to see them, uh, I went a couple of times but she's not there, um, yes, it was difficult until now , this family has been Silenced by tonight's court proceedings, they can finally talk about what really happened to their beautiful Danny and the shocking twist that makes his loss even harder for Bear.

She was such a great light to many people that she could simply walk into a room and she would automatically be 10 times brighter. She was just a powerhouse of a person. She was energy. She was everything you find good in a person. Taylor Joseph and Danny Finlay Jones were inseparable. Best friends met up regularly here at Ramsgate RSL. She was definitely a dancer, especially after a few drinks, her favorite song was Whitney Houston. I want to dance with someone. It sounds like she's the life of the party. Yes, she was definitely a ball of energy, but things changed just before Christmas 2022 when Dany met a new girl. man on dating app Bumble, 33 year old trady, Ashley Gaddy, where was she in her life when she met Ashley Gaddy?

Was she looking for fun or a partner? At that time she was looking for a partner. I think that's one of the great things about her. She was 30 years old, now my clock is ticking. You know, I want to have children. I want to have this. I want to have that. And this was a step for her. The couple went on two dates and quickly became a couple on the morning of their third. and end date Jackie briefly met Ashley Gaddy and what were her impressions of him when she met him that day? I don't know, she's a little different, I don't know, I don't know what she was looking for, she seemed fine, she just seemed to click, I think she had told him everything she wanted to hear. um, he was just interested in a serious relationship, he wanted to settle down, he really wanted to have kids.

What did she like about Ashley Getty? He was probably dominant. I think she met a Definitely I think she liked that it was something a little exciting, something a little different to the people she had been talking to previously, how different none of them could have imagined on December 17th. Danny took Ashley to an annual Christmas drinking party. with friends and it was a big deal for her to introduce me, yes the new boyfriend, he was the first boyfriend we met, it seemed like we had a good time together for most of it? She was kind of curled up next to him, which to me was really lovely to see, she looked happy, she seemed happy and she wanted that for Danny, but as the night went on there was an argument about a drinking game that the group would later watch. as a warning sign.

The question was: have you ever had a one night stand? stop, she said yes and he just said you never told me you said you didn't have a one night stand, he kind of left the table and then messaged her about it saying comments like you lied etc etc. he was sitting across from her texting yes so she just pulled him next to her and they talked for about 20

minutes

. After a few more drinks, you could see they were starting to get closer, so I guess everything was resolved by the end of the night. They returned to Taylor's house to stay the night.

It was the last time she saw her best friend alive. Did you see or hear anything unusual during the night? And we went to bed. I think it was around 1:30 1 130 um and then at At some point during the night, my partner woke me up and said, can you hear that? And it sounded like sex noises, so I laughed, rolled over, and went back to sleep mid-afternoon the next day, Danny and Ashley hadn't surfaced, so Taylor went to check on them, so I opened the door. door and I walked in and she was on the other side of the bed covered in a blanket, she was bleeding from her face, um, that was probably the only indication I needed. tell me things were bad did you immediately think that she is yes, but she was just saying her name?

That's all I could think at that moment she was just repeating her name in my head over and over again, was there any doubt in your mind? about what happened in that room. At first I didn't even think about it, but as soon as I had a second one I started looking for it. I started opening all the other doors in the house to see what was happening. is happening, I couldn't understand what was happening, so her cause of death was trauma, manual strangulation and asphyxiation from straddling as well. I think so, from what you can tell, he straddled her, yeah, so he sat on top of her, um, held her.

His neck covered her mouth as he beat her to death so there was nothing, there was nothing she could have done completely overpowered, it's an unthinkable image, a reality that Danny's family has struggled to accept, you just couldn't believe it. , I don't think he could have done this to her. Your Danny, no, no, I really don't understand how anyone could do something like that to someone. I know quickly that he didn't feel pain. I guess we'll never know that Ashley Gaddy was arrested and charged 2 days later after a confrontation with police, but when reality and grief set in, there was another shocking blow to Dany's family.

Turns out the man who

killed

her was a serial domestic violence offender, you lost a son, a brother, and then you find out this wasn't the first

woman

she heard about. M no, the system had failed to let him out on bail if he hadn't been in Bale Danny. would be alive today below we reveal why a man with a list of serious charges was free to hurt another

woman

it should be preventable we should be able to stop this from happening oh it's lovely yes to Jackie and BL Finlay Jones this Memorial Garden is a quiet place to reflect and remember her daughter and sister Danny, very much Rosemary, this beautiful tree, the soccer ball is a nice touch, oh it looks, it's beautiful and she would have been very happy with it, yes, it's in the grounds of Bates Drive special school in Sydney South, where Dany, 31, was a popular teacher in 2022.

She was strangled to death by Ashley Gaddy, a man she had met online in 2022, on top of the trauma of losing a son and a brother, a few days after Gadd's arrest. Danny's family discovered that he had been harboring a sinister secret Dany was not the first woman he had hurt Ashley Gaddy had been before the courts before in fact he was a serious offender of domestic violence five women had been issued violence orders detained in Against him in 2021 he was found guilty of assaulting an ex-girlfriend who choked her and harassed her, but a magistrate decided Gaddy was a low risk of reoffending and sentenced him to community service.

The next year, he was accused of assaulting another woman and just 6 months after that attack, while he was away, he murdered Danny, I mean. Danny is not the only victim here, there were many other victims and some of them reached out to try to do something with him, so in that sense maybe the justice system did the same with Danny, but not only with Danny but also with the other victims. And I think it was a murder waiting to happen. Danny's best friend Taylor Joseph is furious that Gaddy wasn't behind IND bars considering her violent criminal past and she is convinced that New South Wales' bail laws aren't strict enough.

What are we dedicating ourselves to? Let's say yes, it's low risk, what are we seeing? We look at every case that's already been brought to them to say, oh, maybe there's something wrong here, if so, why can they just bail? Because they can not? Is there some kind of reform program in which they can be included? Isn't there something else that can be done instead of just sending them back? We have a real problem in this country. I think it's getting a little ridiculous now. How many other people have to suffer before something happens? It is a question.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb is there all the time. How many resources does she devote to domestic violence? General service personnel. It is approximately 60% of her minimum time. In some places. wow, it's more than that 70 to 75% of her time between 60 and 75% is an extraordinary figure that highlights the extent of the crisis Karen web has spent almost four decades in the police force working with victims of domestic and family violence as a commissioner . Now, on the front lines of what she describes as an epidemic, how frustrating is it for you when the police do their job, arrest people accused of domestic violence crimes, and then the courts let them go and hurt or kill them? someone.

It's heartbreaking every time you, uh, hear about a victim who has died at the hands of a criminal. It breaks their hearts. We put the victims first and then we hope to bring the perpetrators to court and the rest is up to the courts. Would you like to see? the strengthened bail laws in this state for domestic violence, certainly, even today I was talking to members of the government about that and I welcome any changes or improvements that can be made. Danny's family knows that if Ashley Gaddy had not been able to hide her previous crimes things would have been very different, there are several things that I think need to change, one of them would be dating apps now, so it is necessary start doing police checks for that, and then both parties need to come to the party, so the police also need to make it more easily available for applications.

It would be nice if he had five-thirds against him so that that would be absolutely marked. Would you support introducing police checks on dating apps so that if I match with someone I can see if they have any previous convictions or avos against them, well I don't think it applies just to dating apps, it applies more broader than that, it could be in any circumstance where a person has concerns about the person they are potentially dating or a family member may even have concerns if a national agenda is on the table for a U Forum, then I certainly think it might be worth looking through your pain.

Danny's family was comforted by Ashley Gaddy's promise to face justice. What did you expect from the judicial process? What did he expect that she would find him guilty of murder or that she would plead guilty to murder? And we would also hope to be able to say our opinion. peace in court through victim impact statements, but last month Ashley Gaddy decided to take the law into her own hands by committing suicide in a cell where she was awaiting trial, which meant another call from the police that Jackie will never forget. some bad news um just that Ashley Gad is presumed dead I think I just crouched down and almost screamed and said no, do you think this is a police exit?

I think in a way it is. I think it's really horrible to take someone else out and then take them out. Take yourself out as if you had to face theconsequences of what you have done, but there is also some relief. Ashley Gaddy can't hurt any more women and she no longer has any power over Danny's family and friends. Little did we know that a month later our lives would be shattered with the tragic passing of my daughter Blake, my sister Judy DV. Now they are putting their energy into speaking out against domestic violence and remembering Danny.

Domestic violence does not discriminate, no matter who you are. Being able to be part of this walk is to show our solidarity with the victims of the past and try to keep our loved ones alive and safe. Do you think we have a cultural problem in this country? I mean, is it the way we raise our men? Am I seeing a growing lack of respect for women now in our culture? Definitely one of the big ones could be those influences or Alpha Man podcasts that are also online that normalize a little bit of the lack of respect towards women at the football club where Danny was the team captain.

Jackie often brings red roses, her daughter's favorite, to sit on this special bench. and chat about his girl, she absolutely adored Beauty and the Beast, yeah, um, yeah, and she had a tattoo, she had the tattoo that said, uh, until the last pedal drops, yeah, and it was three roses on her arm, so that's why I get these done. and the last pedal fell off, what do you miss most, Jackie?, waiting for her to come home, the keys to open the door, um, looking forward to what she has coming for her future and then just the talks that we would have Um, everything's gone and you just have to move on with the memory of her, how do you do that?

Just remembering everything she did, knowing that she is there and somehow looking at us, hoping that it wasn't in vain, in vain, hoping that there is something that comes out of this where there are changes where fewer women are

killed

in the future like my sister was. If this story has raised issues and you need to speak to someone, help is available, please call 1800, respect, which is 1800 737. 732 Hi, I'm Amelia Adams, thank you for watching 60 Minutes Australia. Subscribe to our channel now to receive new stories and exclusive clips every week and don't miss our bonus minute segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on .com. and the N Now app