Remembering John

John Ashfield was six years old. He was a first grade student at East Nowra Public School and lived with his mother and siblings in East Nowra, Australia. There is painfully little publicly preserved about John's personality, the things he enjoyed, or the ordinary moments that made up his childhood. Instead, John's name became known because of the extraordinary brutality inflicted upon him during the final hours of his life.But John was a little boy before he became the victim at the center of a murder case. He was a son. He was a brother. He was a six year old child who should have been worrying about school, playing with other children, learning new things and growing up. He should never have been trying to survive the adults inside his own home. His name was John Ashfield, and he deserved an entire lifetime beyond first grade.

John's Story

In August 1993, John's mother, Gunn-Britt Ashfield, became angry after hearing an allegation that six year old John had behaved inappropriately toward his three year old sister. Ashfield and her boyfriend, Austin Allan Hughes, decided John needed to be punished. What followed was not discipline. It was a prolonged and brutal assault. John was beaten for hours while his siblings watched or listened. He was punched and struck repeatedly, including with an aluminum curtain rod. John cried and begged for the beating to stop. It did not. During the abuse, Hughes humiliated John by forcing him to wear one of his sister's dresses and mocking him as the little boy cried. The violence continued until Hughes eventually used a hammer. A telephone book was placed against John's head, and he was repeatedly struck in the head with the hammer. By the end of the assault, John was unconscious. His mother attempted to revive him by placing his unresponsive body beneath cold water and then hot water. Instead of immediately telling authorities what had happened, the adults began constructing a false explanation for John's injuries. John's siblings were instructed to tell authorities that a gang of teenagers had attacked him while he was walking through a park. When John was finally taken for medical treatment, that story could not explain what doctors found. John's small body was covered with more than 100 bruises in different stages of healing. His hands were swollen and bruised. A doctor believed those injuries were consistent with John having tried to protect himself from the blows being inflicted upon him. John had also suffered a devastating brain injury and retinal hemorrhaging. He was cold and bleeding from his nostrils when he was transferred to Westmead Hospital in Sydney. Doctors could not save him. On August 6, 1993, John Ashfield died from the injuries inflicted upon him.

Warning Signs & System Failures

John's death did not occur in a family that had never come to the attention of child protection authorities. After John's murder, the New South Wales Department of Community Services acknowledged that John and the other children in the household had previously come to the attention of social workers. The department confirmed that it had prior contact with the family before John was brought unconscious to the hospital. Following John's death, authorities sought court orders concerning the care of the other children in the home and arranged for them to be medically examined because of the injuries discovered on John's body. Later accounts of the case described repeated concerns involving the household before John's death. Whatever opportunities may have existed to intervene, one fact became devastatingly clear after John was killed: the family had already been known to the system responsible for protecting vulnerable children. John was six years old. He could not remove himself from a dangerous home or make adults act upon concerns that had already been raised. By the time the full extent of what was happening inside that home became impossible to ignore, John was dead.

Justice for John

Gunn-Britt Ashfield and Austin Allan Hughes were arrested and charged with John's murder. Both were ultimately convicted of murder and originally sentenced to 21 years in prison. Their sentences were later reduced on appeal to 19 years, with minimum terms of 14 years. Austin Hughes eventually became eligible for parole. His release was refused in both 2007 and 2008. In December 2009, after approximately 16 years behind bars, the New South Wales Parole Authority granted Hughes parole. John's sister Melissa, who had been only three years old when her brother was killed, publicly opposed his release.

Austin Hughes was released from prison on December 28, 2009.

Gunn-Britt Ashfield later became known as Angelic Karstrom. She also eventually became eligible for parole. After serving approximately 18 years, she was released on parole in 2011. John's sister Melissa again publicly opposed the release of one of the people convicted of killing her brother.

 

People convicted: Gunn-Britt Ashfield and Austin Allan Hughes

Relationship to John: Mother and mother's boyfriend

Conviction: Murder

Original sentences: 21 years imprisonment

Sentences after appeal: 19 years, with minimum terms of 14 years

Austin Hughes: Released on parole December 28, 2009

Gunn-Britt Ashfield, later known as Angelic Karstrom: Released on parole in 2011

 

A prison sentence could punish the adults responsible for John's death, but it could never undo what had been done to him. And for John's surviving siblings, the consequences of what happened inside that home did not end when the prison sentences did.

Forever Remembered

John Ashfield was six years old. The adults who were supposed to care for him decided that a six year old child deserved to be taught a lesson. For hours, John was beaten. He cried. He begged for it to stop. He tried to protect himself with his small hands. And when he could no longer respond, the adults responsible for what had happened attempted to create a story blaming strangers rather than immediately telling authorities the truth about what had been done to him. John's siblings were left not only with the loss of their brother, but with memories no children should ever have been forced to carry. Years later, John's sister Melissa was still speaking publicly about her brother and opposing the release of the people convicted of killing him. That matters. Long after a criminal sentence ends, the consequences for the family left behind do not.But John was more than the horrific final hours of his life. His name was John Ashfield.,He was a son. A brother. A first grade student. A six year old little boy who deserved safety inside his own home. He deserved adults who protected him. He deserved more school years, birthdays, friendships and the opportunity to grow into whoever he was supposed to become. Abuse Angels remembers John, tells the truth about the brutality inflicted upon him, and honors the six year old little boy behind a decades old Australian murder case. John Ashfield mattered. And he will never be forgotten.