Last Thursday the lifeless body of Lily Jamesa 21-year-old water polo coach, in the locker room bathrooms at St Andrew’s Cathedral School, in Sydney. The body had serious injuries and head trauma and it was confirmed that the young woman had been murdered. This crime has become one of the most followed in recent years in Australia.
Investigators discovered that the woman was in a secret relationship with a 24-year-old man, Paul Thiessen, a former student who was captain of one of the school’s sports teams and who was a hockey coach at the center. The Police began to pull that thread after observing on security cameras that the man was with Lilie that day and also entered her locker room after her where they found her dead.
Thiessen, knowing that he was wanted by security agents, fled. The police issued an arrest warrant but when they found him he was dead. Next to him they found objects “associated with the homicide”, supposedly the hammer used as a murder weaponin a container.
Society, tired and shocked, is beginning to raise its voice for what they define as a “epidemic of sexist violence” in the country. And Lilie is the 41st woman who has died this year at the hands of a man in Australia. In the last 10 days alone, three women have been murdered by men they knew in their homes or workplaces.
Lilie’s friends and family have wanted to say goodbye to the young woman on social networks, where messages have been read such as: “She was vibrant, outgoing and very loved by her family and friends”, “We are devastated and heartbroken” or “We will be “I mourn this loss forever.”