Rachel Smalley: If nothing failed, why is Blessie Gotingco dead?

Blessie Gotingco was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The mother of three was run over, raped and murdered by Tony Robertson, a convicted child sex offender with a documented hostility towards woman, had been released from jail with a GPS monitor and a curfew.

A psychologist warned on his release that he would offend again, and he did.

The inquiry into Blessie's murder has found there were no failings or deficiencies in the systems or practises in the way Robertson was managed. It said he, and he alone, was responsible for his actions that day.

I disagree. If nothing failed, tell me this - why is Blessie Gotingco dead? If nothing went wrong, if everything went as it should, why did a mother of three suffer so horrifically and lose her life?

Back in 2005, Robertson was found guilty of abducting and molesting a 5 year old girl. He served the full sentence because he would not accept his guilt. He showed no remorse and he refused to undergo any form of rehabilitation.

So he served the maximum time in jail and when his sentence was complete, he had to be set free.

Tragically, the man who went into jail was exactly the same man who came out. A monster. He was given a curfew and a GPS monitor but neither would stop him from raping or killing again.

And when Robertson left jail, he did so with a terrifying assessment from a psychologist. This is chilling. Let me read you some of the warnings in the psychologist's report.

They said "I consider that it is likely that Robertson will commit an indecency on a child under the age of 12 years and that he will abduct a child for the purpose of sexual connection.

"He has an appalling criminal history. That history has escalated to sexual offending against young children. Robertson is impulsive, he is unable to control his anger and aggression.

"As a non-familial child sex offender (in other words, he doesn't groom children, he abducts children he doesn't know) he belongs to a group in the greater risk in the high risk category...."

And the psychologist then goes on to say that Robertson was highly problematic on release because he has, "Limited capacity for relationship stability, his hostility towards women, his sense of general social rejection, his lack of concern for others, his impulsivity, his poor problem solving skills, his negative emotionality, his sex drive and sexual preoccupation, and his deviant sexual preferences":

And out into society he went with a GPS anklet on. He remained an aggressive deviant sexual predator.

If nothing failed, if Corrections didn't let us down, if the police didn't let us down, then answer this question - why is Blessie Gotingco dead?

Why did she die at the hands of Robertson who used his car to run her down, to break her legs and ribs. He picked up her broken body, threw her in his car, drove her home to his garage where he raped her and then slit her throat. It was a horrific, horrific death.

It is clear to me the system is incapable of managing high-risk sex offenders. It is clear to me that either the law as it stands, or the policy that governs Robertson's release has failed. And yet we're told that nothing failed.

Tell that to Blessie's husband. Tell that to her children for the rest of their lives. Your mother died a horrific death, but nothing and no-one failed her.

This inquiry brings no comfort and no conclusion. It is yet another example of how the system fails us.