Paola Totaro, The Sydney Morning Herald, Correspondent in London
May 2, 2009
CASSANDRA HASANOVIC was convinced she was going to die at the hands of her husband but her pleas for help – in Australia and Britain – fell on deaf ears.
“He said he was going to chop me up in little pieces and post me piece by piece to my family,” she told police more than a year before her death.
This is a damning story of a woman whose fears were ignored by authorities in two hemispheres for more than 12 months.
It’s the nightmare tale of a mother, 24, who was dragged out of a car and stabbed to death by her husband in front of her mother and two young sons in July 2008.
Mrs Hasanovic died hours after begging British police to drive her to a safe house: “I live in fear for my safety. I am so scared of him.”
The five-year marriage ended in May 2007 after the sexual assault and Mrs Hasanovic fled to Australia, where she had relatives. She lived in the safety of Sydney’s western suburbs in the fervent hope of seeking custody of her sons.
“Cassie was devastated when under the Hague Convention she was ordered to return the boys to England,” her mother broke down. “This brutal, cruel and senseless act has torn our lives apart”.
More about Cassandra’s death:
https://www.smh.com.au/world/young-mother-fled-to-sydney-to-save-her-life-20090501-aq5z.html
https://www.smh.com.au/world/following-a-court-order-killed-her-20090503-ard1.html
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/26/cassandra-hasanovic-murder-domestic-violence