My name is Eileen Culleton. I am the sister of murder victim Anne-Marie Culleton who was raped and murdered on 23 February 1988 in Darwin by Jonathan Peter Bakewell who broke into her flat in the middle of the night while she was sleeping to rape and murder her in her bed. This crime is every woman’s worst nightmare.
Despite being given a life sentence with no parole Bakewell was released due to law changes in the Northern Territory to grant parole to life sentence murderers. Since his release Bakewell has breached parole four times for taking drugs, the same drugs he took the night he raped and murdered my sister, yet the parole board keeps releasing him. Bakewell is a sadistic rapist murderer. Drugs or no drugs, I believe Bakewell is as dangerous today as the day he committed his crimes and I am living in perpetual fear that he will strike again.
I am advocating for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for rapist murderers because they should never be given another chance to repeat their crimes.
I am also calling for rape and murder to be a stand alone crime to reflect its gravity and to enable specific mandatory sentencing.
It is my belief that strong sentencing for the crime of rape and murder will send a strong message in society and help to reduce all violent crimes against women.
Petition calling for Life Sentencing For Rapist Murderers
Petition calling for Life Sentencing For Rapist Murderers
I am calling for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for rapist murderers because they should never be given another chance to repeat their crimes.
I launched my petition on Change.org on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and 16 Days of Activism on 25 November 2020.
I encourage you to support my campaign by signing and sharing the petition.
Together we can make our nation safer for women and children.
About
Eileen Culleton
Homicide victim advocate Eileen Culleton with a photo of her sister Anne-Marie
Homicide victim advocate Eileen Culleton is calling for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for the crime of rape and murder.
She is also calling for rape and murder to be a stand alone crime to reflect the gravity of the crime and to enable specific mandatory sentencing.
Rape and Murder Victim Anne-Marie Culleton
Eileen’s sister Anne-Marie Culleton was raped and murdered on 23 February 1988 in Darwin by Jonathan Peter Bakewell, 26, who broke into her flat in the middle of the night when she was sleeping.
Anne-Marie Culleton murdered in her flat in Darwin in 1988. She was only 20.
Anne-Marie was only 20 when her life was brutally cut short. In the last few weeks of Anne-Marie’s life she had reached a turning point of independence. She had a job, a car, and five weeks prior, she had moved out of home into her first flat. She had hopes and dreams that she was excited about.
Anne-Marie was a beautiful, talented young woman with a bright future ahead of her. With dreams she never got to realise.
Rapist murderer Jonathan Bakewell
26 year old Jonathan Bakewell broke down Anne-Marie Culleton’s back door to attack her in her bed. Bakewell had breached parole and was on the run from South Australia, having travelled through NSW and QLD before arriving in the NT where he murdered Anne-Marie Culleton.
1988 Convicted killer rapist Jonathan Bakewell escorted from a plane at Darwin Airport after his arrest. Picture courtesy Adelaide Advertiser
Despite being given a life sentence with no parole, Bakewell was granted parole after law changes in the Northern Territory to grant parole to life sentence prisoners.
Since his release in 2016 in South Australia (where he was transferred while in prison), Bakewell has breached parole four times for drug taking, the same drugs he took when he raped and murdered Anne-Marie. Yet the Parole Board released him for the fifth time on 18 October 2019.
Eileen’s campaign for Bakewell’s parole to be cancelled after four drug breaches
Eileen mounted a nine month campaign in 2019 for Bakewell’s parole to be cancelled after he breached parole for taking drugs – the same drugs he took the night he raped and murdered Anne-Marie Culleton.
Eileen first appealed to the politicians. In March 2019 she wrote to the South Australian Premier Stephen Marshall, Attorney General Vicki Chapman and Police and Correctional Services Minister, Corey Wingard calling for urgent action.
In the meantime Bakewell breached parole for the fourth time for taking drugs and in April 2019 he was sent back to custody pending a hearing.
When her letters to the politicians were dismissed, with Bakewell’s parole hearing scheduled for June 2019, Eileen spoke to the media for the first time in 31 years.
Bakewell’s parole hearing was deferred to October. In the meantime Eileen was contacted by members of the public who had come into contact with him and were alarmed at his behaviours and had written to the parole board calling for his parole to be revoked. Eileen made a 53 page submission to the parole board which she copied to the politicians and others, calling for the revocation of Bakewell’s parole and for an urgent review of the SA parole board.
In October 2019 she mounted another media campaign, speaking on the TV news for the first time.
Unfortunately Eileen’s campaign was not successful, her urgent pleas fell on deaf ears and Bakewell was released for the fifth time on 18 October 2019.
Eileen is horrified about Bakewell’s release and is convinced from the new information she received during her campaign that Bakewell is as dangerous today as the day he raped and murdered Anne-Marie Culleton.
See Eileen’s media page for more coverage of her fight to have Bakewell’s parole cancelled and to call for an urgent overhaul of the parole system in South Australia.
Petition calling for Life For Rapist Murderers
Eileen launched a petition calling for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for rapist murderers on 25 November 2020, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
She also called for rape and murder to be a stand alone crime to reflect the gravity of the crime and to enable specific mandatory sentencing.
Eileen has a history of advocating for community safety locally and globally.
She was the Founder and CEO of the Emergency 2.0 Wiki, a not for profit global resource for using social media and new technologies in emergencies. Eileen galvanised the Government 2.0 in Queensland Community of Practice to form a collaboration, knowledge sharing and crowdsourcing Emergency 2.0 Wiki community.
As CEO of the Emergency 2.0 Wiki Eileen helped drive policy change globally to accelerate government use of social media in disasters.
Eileen advocated to ensure the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015:2030 – the global blueprint to build the world’s resilience to disasters – incorporated social media1,2
Her advocasy involved presenting at IDRC 2014, a disaster risk conference organised by the Global Risk Forum in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) to inform the new Framework. Her presentation was sponsored by the Attorney-General’s Department Emergency Management Australia. As well as the presentation, Eileen made a Red Chair Statement and submitted a research paper. 3 The Emergency 2.0 Wiki was decommissioned in 2018.
The NSW Sentencing Council has ignored the national crisis of murders of women in its murder sentencing report released on 27 May 2021 by refusing to strengthen murder sentences. The report paid ‘lip service to the national crisis of murders of women’ and ‘lip service to victim families’ but kept the status quo. This Murder …
I had the privilege of speaking at the March 4 Justice Mullumbimby Event on 15 March 2021. I called for national law reform for murder with sexual assault to be made a separate offence carrying a mandatory life sentence with no parole. This was my first public speech and march calling for law reform and …
On this International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and 16 Days of Activism, I have officially launched my petition calling for national law reform for mandatory life sentencing without parole for rapist murderers.
Contact
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Eileen made a 39 page 
Eileen’s history advocating for community safety