Biddy Porter Inquest Begins: Missed Mental Health Warning Signs Examined

A coronial inquest into the 2020 murder of 10-year-old Bridgette “Biddy” Porter began on June 16, 2026, at Lidcombe Coroners Court in Sydney. The four-day hearing will examine whether psychiatric and educational institutions missed warning signs before a 14-year-old girl killed the child while in acute psychosis. The teenager was found not criminally responsible due to mental illness in 2021 and remains in custody.

Escalating Warning Signs Before the Murder

In the year before Biddy’s death on July 8, 2020, the teenager showed severe psychiatric distress. She slaughtered six chickens on the property, collected and named individual knives, and reported seeing the eyes of the Cheshire Cat in the dark. She repeatedly told relatives she “didn’t feel real.” On July 7, 2020, the day before the killing, she suggested playing “serial killers” with Biddy and another child, chasing them with a knife. The children were terrified.

Text Messages and Ignored Pleas for Help

Hours before the murder, the teenager texted a friend saying she “felt crazy” and was thinking about killing someone. “It doesn’t matter how many times I tell mum or dad I want to kill someone … they think I’m joking,” she wrote late on July 7. Two psychiatrists confirmed the teenager had schizophrenia and was in acute psychosis at the time of the killing, meaning she likely had a “loss of contact with reality.” Psychiatrist Olav Nielssen is expected to tell the inquest there were missed opportunities to help the teenager before she killed Biddy.

Systemic Failures and Institutional Blind Spots

Counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer SC outlined how adults failed to act on clear psychiatric distress. The teenager’s father told the inquest he thought her behaviour stemmed from school bullying after COVID-19 lockdowns, video games, and inappropriate movies. He was not enthusiastic about his wife seeking a GP referral to a psychiatrist when the teenager reported hearing voices and having intrusive thoughts. The inquest will examine whether there were systemic failings or early warning signs to prevent similar deaths.

The Killer’s Legal Status and Inquest Focus

Under NSW law, the killer cannot be identified and will be referred to as XR throughout the inquest. The teenager was found guilty but not criminally responsible in the NSW Supreme Court in November 2021 and has remained in a forensic health facility since her arrest. Biddy’s parents, Rebekah Keukenmeester and Dominic Porter, requested the inquest after an initial coronial investigation was denied in 2023. State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan granted the request in 2024.

Final Thoughts

The inquest reveals how psychiatric institutions and family members failed to act on clear warning signs of acute psychosis. For Biddy’s parents, the four-day hearing offers the first official examination of systemic failures that may have prevented her death.

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