The faces of NSW’s shocking domestic violence crisis

Dayna Isaac, Tatiana Dokhotaru, Lisa Fenwick, Anastasia Slastion and Drew Douglas. These are the faces of NSW’s domestic violence crisis. In the space of 48 hours, the five men who killed them all stood in the NSW Supreme Court and were sentenced for their murder. In all five cases, the women were murdered by their partners or ex-partners. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it’s estimated that one in four women in Australia experiences domestic violence at the hands of a partner. From October 2024 to September 2025, there were 35 domestic violence murders in NSW, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. That is trending upward – from 33 the previous year and 23 in 2021-22. Police Minister Yasmin Catley described domestic and family violence as “one of the most devastating crimes in our community”. She said examples of lives being lost, such as Ms Isaac, Ms Dokhotaru, Ms Fenwick, Ms Slastion and Ms Douglas were “heartbreaking”. “The Minns Labor government is treating domestic violence as the crisis it is,” she said. “We’re strengthening protections for victim-survivors, holding perpetrators to account and investing in long-term solutions to stop violence before it happens. “We have introduced rental reforms so people can leave violent homes without penalty and launched a NSW first strategy focused on addressing perpetrator behaviour. In NSW each year, police respond to more than 150,000 domestic violence-related call-outs, demonstrating the enormity of the problem. These are the stories of those five women. In all five cases, the women were at home, where they were entitled to feel safe. All were with someone who they were entitled to feel safe with. Dayna Isaac Dayna Isaac was murdered inside her Penrith apartment in January 2023 when a man she had been seeing for a few short months burst into her home, pushing her against a wall, dragging her into her bedroom, assaulting her and strangling her with two electrical cords. She had known Paul Sultana since 2018 and, in late 2022, she began an intimate relationship with him. But as Justice Peter Garling said, their relationship was not “settled” and she had told him that she did not want their relationship to continue. On Monday, January 16, 2023, Ms Isaac had a trial shift with a prospective employer and returned home shortly after 1pm. Sultana cycled over to her apartment, carrying rope and tape, about 9.30am and lay in wait for several hours. When Ms Isaac opened the door for him, he began the vicious assault. One neighbour heard Sultana yelling “shut up” and Ms Isaac pleading “stop” and “don’t”. The neighbour reported hearing “one of the worst screams which I have ever heard in my life” before the apartment fell silent. Justice Garling noted that the murder was committed against the backdrop of Sultana’s jealous, controlling and irrational behaviour in the preceding week. Sultana desperately tried to claim that Ms Isaac was killed by a mysterious, third person who was inside at the time – but that was flatly rejected by Justice Garling. After a judge-alone trial, Sultana was found guilty of Ms Isaac’s murder and was sentenced to 44 years in prison, with a 33-year non-parole period. Tatiana Dokhotaru Tatiana Dokhotaru was killed inside her Liverpool apartment, in Sydney’s west in May 2023 by her former partner Danny Zayat. The night she was murdered, Ms Dokhotaru made a desperate triple-0 call during which she told the operator “my ex-boyfriend’s here and he’s trying to kill me” and “my ex-husband is stealing my money from my house”. However, before she could give the operator her full address and apartment number, the call was cut off and Zayat threw her phone from her balcony. It meant that when police arrived at her apartment building, they were unable to determine which unit she was in. She was found dead inside the unit having suffered three head injuries. Zayat returned to the apartment three times the following day and when he was finally able to enter shortly before 8pm, he called triple-0. He pleaded not guilty to murder and at trial his legal team argued that Ms Dokhotaru may have fallen accidentally due to prescription medication use and intoxication – a version of events rejected by the jury. The court was told that during their relationship, he frequently subjected her to verbal abuse, threats and violence. Zayat was sentenced to 24 years in jail and will first be eligible for release in 2049 after serving 18 years. Lisa Fenwick Mere hours before she was murdered, Lisa Fenwick sent her partner, Anthony Eriksen, a link to a house-sharing website. In April 2023, she wanted Eriksen, who had been unemployed for several years, to move out of their shared Mascot apartment. She had told friends that she was fearful of Eriksen. And she had told counsellors that Eriksen was wholly financially reliant on her, she felt trapped in their relationship, he was weighing her down and she wanted him to move out. On the afternoon of her murder, she sent Eriksen a link to flatmates.com.au followed by a message saying “not sure if they will want a 60 year old man though”. CCTV captured Ms Fenwick, 59, walking her dogs and returning home at 5.24pm. Forty minutes later, Eriksen phoned triple-0 during which he admitted to having killed his partner by stabbing her. He told the operator “Uh, we’ve got into an argument” and “well, I put a knife into her”. Ms Fenwick was found on her bedroom floor in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds to her chest, abdomen and thigh as well as defensive wounds on her hands. Eriksen later told police in an interaction captured on body worn video: “It’s just, like, living life is so stressful. “I haven’t had a job for five years and … she just criticises me all the time and I want to have a job but I don’t have a job.” He further told police: “That’s life. Guess I’m going to jail now.” Eriksen was found guilty of murder by a jury after pleading not guilty. Justice Andrew Coleman described Eriksen’s actions as “cowardly and inexcusable” as he sentenced him to 26 years and eight months in jail. He will be made to serve a minimum of 20 years, meaning the 64-year-old is likely to die in jail. Anastasia Slastion Anastasia Slastion was murdered by her partner Isaac Costa after a drunken night at a Greystanes bar in Sydney’s west. The Latvian-born, Russian national moved to Australia on a working visa in October 2022. Before her murder, Ms Slastion, 32, and Costa had been dating for six weeks after he approached her at a bar and began speaking in Russian. The court was told that Costa was “needy”, “very possessive” and “emotionally dependent” upon her from early on in their relationship. The court was told that their relationship was marked by heavy alcohol use and “heavy drinking exacerbated the offender’s possessiveness and introduced volatility to the relationship”. On the evening of Friday, February 24, 2023, Costa finished work and on the way home bought $240 worth of alcohol before he and Ms Slastion went to the Greystanes Inn. The court was told that while Ms Slastion and her friend were dancing, Costa attempted to “cut in” several times but was rebuffed. During an Uber ride home, Ms Slastion complained loudly about Costa and proclaimed her intention to break up with him, saying: “Things aren’t working well between us. I’m going to break up with you.” They went back to Costa’s granny flat. However, it’s not known what happened inside and Costa later told a psychiatrist that he had “blacked out”. Ms Slastion was bashed and strangled by Costa. Her body was discovered after Costa sent a concerning text message to a friend, who drove around to his house. The friend discovered Ms Slastion’s lifeless body on the bed. Costa told his father: “(Ms Slastion) started hitting me again and I lost it and I hit her back … I’ve been trying to resuscitate her, but I can’t. I didn’t mean to hit her, I just lost it and snapped.” He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 18 years in prison and will be eligible for release after 13½ years. Drew Douglas Mother-of-four Drew Douglas was stabbed to death inside the western Sydney home she shared with her long-time partner, Shaun Michael King, after expressing her desire to leave him. Ms Douglas, 31 at the time of her murder, had been in a de-facto relationship with King since 2009 up until August 2023 when he stabbed her to death with a kitchen knife. In the days before she was killed, she told a community nurse that she needed to leave King. On August 15, 2023 – the day before she was killed – there was evidence that she was preparing to pack her bags. In the lead-up to the murder, King also complained to his mother that he was hearing voices and stated that he had stopped taking his antidepressant medication. On the morning of August 16, King stabbed Ms Douglas inside their bedroom. She called out to King’s mother, who was also in the house, and repeatedly screamed: “Maureen help me, he’s stabbing me.” She lay on the floor saying “I’m dying, I’m dying” as King walked out of the room, got in his car and drove away. Paramedics attempted to revive her but she died at the scene due to the multiple stab wounds to her chest and neck. King drove 42km to Campbelltown Police Station where he told an officer at the front desk “I’ve done something bad” and “I stabbed my missus”. Justice Belinda Rigg found that King had lost control in an “impaired state” and the court was told that he was likely in the midst of a drug-induced psychosis as a result of using ice in the several days before the murder. The court was told that King also had severe mental health conditions including PTSD, major depressive disorder and ADHD. He was sentenced to 16½ years in jail. King will be eligible for release in 2035 after serving a minimum term of 11½ years.