The New South Wales government has apologized after admitting it left two children in foster care with a convicted triple murderer until this week, despite a report warning them about the situation in December.
NSW Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington told 2GB radio on Wednesday morning that Regina Arthurell had been removed from a home where she had been living with foster children aged 12 and 14, after the radio station revealed the situation on Monday.
“It is totally unacceptable for a vulnerable child in state care to live with a triple (murderer). It should never have happened and I am deeply sorry for what has happened,” he said.
Announcing an urgent review, Washington revealed that his department had been informed of the situation in late December, but confirmed that Arthurell had not been separated from the children until Monday.
Sign Up: AU Breaking News Email
Arthurell, who identifies as a transgender woman, was convicted of two counts of manslaughter and one count of murder for three slayings committed while presenting as a man. They include convictions for manslaughter for stabbing his stepfather to death in 1974 and for the murder of a 19-year-old in a robbery in the Northern Territory in 1981.
While on parole for manslaughter in 1995, Arthurell bludgeoned her ex-partner Venet Raylee Mulhall to death at their Coonabarabran home in central New South Wales, and was sentenced to 24 years in prison for murder, before being released in November 2020 and placed on an extended supervision order (ESO).
At a hearing in 2021, a Supreme Court judge said Arthurell was making sincere rehabilitation efforts but had a “propensity to violently end the lives of other human beings.”
On Wednesday, Washington said she was concerned about a report from a caller 2GB, who identified herself as the daughter of the woman Arthurell had been living with, who said she had also alerted New South Wales police and Correctional Services this year after attempts to warn government departments last year were unsuccessful.
“It appears there have been multiple failures in the system that have led us to this point,” Washington said.
Washington said there were “complexities” to the situation that he could not share publicly to protect the children’s privacy. He said a review would examine “the decision-making that led to this terrible decision.”
In Wednesday’s budget estimates, NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley was asked why his department had not extended the ESO for Arthurell after it expired in December 2024.
“There is a high-risk offender assessment committee which is chaired by the Commissioner of Correctional Services, and it did not refer Ms Arthurell to the Attorney General for consideration for future application under the Act,” he said.
NSW Police and NSW Correctional Services have been contacted for comment.
