‘I despise you’: sister’s anger as she confronts killer
Sky Daly-Holt was holding her six-week-old daughter when she received the news no one wants to hear.
Her sister, Autumn Baker, was brutally murdered by a man she considered a friend.
“What was supposed to be a joyful time in my life… turned into a horror show,” Ms Daly-Holt said.
Ms Baker attacked Mark Ludbrook with a knife while he was visiting him at his home in south-west Melbourne in August 2023.
He had tried to stop the woman from harming herself when he turned the gun on her and stabbed her repeatedly in the chest, arms and eyes.
Ludbrook claimed that PCE, an illegal drug he took earlier that morning to manage pain from his neurological condition, altered his mind.
But a Victoria Supreme Court jury found the 54-year-old was conscious of his actions and was therefore guilty of murder.
Ms Daly-Holt confronted Ludbrook among friends and family of Ms Baker, who faces a pre-sentence hearing on Tuesday.
She described the violence and sadness Ludbrook brought into her life, saying he destroyed her family.
“You stole my first and eternal friend, my childhood acquaintance, the person who knew me better than anyone,” Ms. Daly-Holt said.
“I tell Autumn every day that I love her and I miss her. No one will ever love me like Autumn.”
Ms Daly-Holt said Ludbrook also stole Ms Baker’s two young children from a loving, caring and empathetic mother.
“I despise you,” he told Ludbrook, who watched on a video link from prison.
“I wish Autumn had never met you. I wish she had let you kill yourself that day. Your life is worthless.”
Ms Baker’s mother, Annie Daly-Holt, said she feared every day to live without her daughter and that the only people keeping her going were her grandchildren.
“My life has been spent making sure my daughter is not forgotten,” he said.
“She radiated light wherever she went and left beauty behind. There was nothing she couldn’t do.”
Miss Baker’s father, Lance Daly-Holt, said there was not enough punishment for Ludbrook.
“I miss my daughter every day,” he said.
“This man’s actions took everything from my family.”
On the morning of the murder, Ludbrook’s babysitter saw him walking around naked, even though he normally took three steps.
She also thanked the different colors and told her caretaker how she had to sleep with him to save the animals.
Crown prosecutor Jim Shaw said the verdict made clear that Ludbrook acted consciously and deliberately regardless of the drugs he took at the time of the murder.
Mr Shaw argued that Lubdook’s moral culpability was therefore high and that he still had not taken responsibility for his actions.
Ludbrook’s attorney will make a presentation when the case returns to court Friday.
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