‘Disgusting’: Outrage at convicted murderer’s request to undergo IVF while imprisoned

A decision to grant a convicted killer leave from a maximum-security prison to undergo IVF has been condemned by her victim’s family and politicians as “nothing short of disgusting”.

Alicia Schiller was sentenced to at least 16 years behind bars in 2017 for the murder of her housemate, Tyrelle Evertsen-Mostert, three years prior.

The then-25-year-old was found guilty of murder after stabbing Ms Evertsen-Mostert three times while under the influence of ice, having discovered the mum-of-three had taken $50 from her room to buy drugs.

The youngest of Ms Evertsen-Mostert’s children, then aged four, was inside their Geelong home at the time of his mother’s violent death.

A decade on from the killing, the Herald Sun revealed on Wednesday that Schiller has been approved to receive fertility treatment while housed as an inmate at Victoria’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.

It’s understood Schiller would fund the treatment herself and, if successful, raise the child in the prison until it was five, at which time it would be placed in the custody of the killer’s mother.

The extraordinary request was met with swift, widespread outrage, and concerns it could see other maximum-security prisoners seek IVF while serving lengthy sentences.

Tobias Evertsen-Mostert, who was 12 when his mother was killed, said he didn’t care if Schiller had a child once she’d served out her sentence. But, it was his belief she was trying to cut short her remaining jail time or ensure an easier sentence, he told the Herald Sun on Thursday.

“You left three kids motherless, you animal. You stabbed your friend,” the 22-year-old said.

“I stand strongly against this.”

Ms Evertsen-Mostert’s parents-in-law, Jim and Yvonne Gentle, said the “cold-blooded murderer” had lost the privilege of being a mother.

“I don’t think that a person that’s been convicted of such a horrific crime as she was convicted of, and did, has those rights,” Ms Gentle told The Project on Wednesday night.

“It should be a punishment. You shouldn’t be able to escape for a better position in prison, which I think would probably be the reason that she’s doing it.”

Mr Gentle said it was “not as though (Schiller) stole a candy bar from a shop”.

“She viciously committed a murder. She took a knife into the place where she knew she wanted to harm somebody, killed the mother in front of a baby, and her other children, which is just terrible,” he said.

“And to think of the poor child. If a child was born in (jail), it’s five years before it comes out, and not fair for the child. The poor kid, you just can’t do that.”

Speaking to The Project, however, Greg Barns SC of the Australian Lawyers Alliance argued Schiller “has a human right to family”.

“You don’t lose that right simply because you’re in prison,” he told the program.

“We are increasing the opportunity for women to give birth and be with their children in prison because that improves rehabilitation.

“The bottom line is, if you are in prison it’s the deprivation of liberty that’s the punishment. You have a right to the same level of healthcare as anyone else in the community.

“That’s the way it’s been for a long, long time and that’s the way it should be.”

The Victorian Government has confirmed taxpayers will not be forced to foot the bill of any staffing, security or transportation costs required between the prison and external IVF clinic, but declined to detail whether they’d bear the cost associated with raising Schiller’s child behind bars.

Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan said there were “ethical questions about these kinds of treatments, especially when someone is serving such a long sentence”, it was ultimately “a Supreme Court decision”.

Shadow Police Minister Brad Bantin, meanwhile, described the judgement as “nothing short of disgusting”.

“Who in their right mind would think that she’s going to be a responsible mother?” he told reporters on Wednesday.

“If they’re looking for a companion for her, get a companion dog.”

Radio presenter Neil Mitchell and Perth Mayor Basil Zempilis similarly ripped the decision during a discussion on Sunrise with host Natalie Barr, with the latter saying that Schiller being “a convicted killer … should end it there”.

“Where in Australia do people think that you can murder and get these rights and liberties?” Mr Zempilis continued.

“It’s not what Australians want. Nobody signed up for this. It is not what Australians think.

“So, it should end and end now … It’s ridiculous.”

Mr Mitchell agreed, adding the “absurd situation … can be stopped, it should be stopped, and I think this will be stopped”.

“I think the government should drive a truck through (this decision). If they have to go to Court and fight it, do so,” he said, citing a 2020 law that stipulates fertility treatment can be refused if they believe the child to be conceived may be at risk of abuse or neglect.

“At the moment they are pretending (this law) doesn’t exist, and this isn’t their problem … but there is a way through it, and as (Mr Bantin) said, in what world does anything think this woman could be a good parent?”