Wonderland Wanderess

TRIGGER WARNING: the following research article contains graphic details and sensitive topics which some readers may find distressing. On 7 August 2012, Brandon Duran was murdered and his body was sawed into twenty-five pieces (Porterfield, 2017a). Duran’s body parts were then placed in concrete-filled buckets and discarded in a pond. One of the two convicted killers was Amber Andrews, Duran’s ex-wife, and the mother of his 3-year-old son. She allegedly conspired with her lover, Justin Hammer, to lure Duran to Elmore, under the ruse of reconciling. A jury rejected Andrews’ assertion that the proposed reconciliation was genuine, along with her pleas of innocence. Andrews and Hammer were both convicted of murder in the first degree (Dillon, 2014); however, this paper will mainly focus on Andrews, who was additionally charged with desecration of a corpse and conspiring to commit murder. She is currently serving a life sentence for the murder, and a further 17 years, for the associated...

Introduction This essay explores the causes and effects of young people witnessing domestic and family violence (DFV) . It commences by defining and explaining what DFV is. Next, this type of abuse is critically analysed to determine how it occurs. Two theories are relied upon in the analysis, those being social learning theory and attachment theory . Following this, the prevalence of witnessing DFV  is discussed on national and international scales. Finally, the human rights violations applicable to this abuse type are touched upon with specific reference to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).   Definition and Explanation Domestic violence (DV) and family violence (FV) each have slightly different meanings. DV refers specifically to violence occurring between current or former intimate partners. It involves one party attempting to execute power and control over the other through fear, intimidation, violence, and threatening behaviours...

When the devil can’t reach you, he sends a narcissist.   —Romario   THIS IS A PRISONER’S TEXT.   This is a prisoner’s text, composed in a reality that is no longer my own. My mind feeds on incessant untruths, fed to it by my captor, the one who loves me the most.   This is a prisoner’s text birthed by lust and madness, weaved into a web of deception that keeps me snug and warm.   This is a prisoner’s text, written by an anguished hand which no longer possesses the will to live. It is too late. I am too far gone. Yet, live I must.   This is a prisoner’s text, but if you are reading it, it is already too late; I am already gone. These are words on a page that will soon float as freely on the wind, as the ashes of my corpse.   This was a prisoner’s text; a plea to my jailer; a voice for the voiceless; wings for the fallen.   This is an ex-prisoner’s text, the parting words of a homicide victim. This is a ghost’s wail; a butterfly’s whisper; the soft ...

    It is August, 2021 and I am embarking on the first of a series of field trips to Hartmann Park, located in the small township of Crows Nest, Queensland. I descend into the rugged bush with awkward, jarring steps, down a steep bitumen incline, my left hand gripping the metal railing and my right, clutching the strap of my bulky, grey messenger bag. I am struck by the memory of a fictional book I read in Grade 8 English class, Tomorrow, when the war began (1993). This book is part of a series that tells the story of seven youths who embark on a camping trip in remote bush, referred to by town locals as 'Hell'. The group return to find Australia at war (Marsden 1993). In that moment, I realise that Hartmann Park reminds me of the 'Hell' Marsden describes in the Tomorrow series (1993–1999). I enjoyed these books immensely as a teen, perhaps owing to the subconscious tie I bound them to Hartmann Park with. As I continue trekking into the bowels of the Earth, I stroll fu...