The bright, beautiful student broke her silence for the first time on Australian television in a gripping interview on Sunday Night.
“There are many things people don’t understand. There’s a lot of things that have been overlooked,” Anu explained.
“One of the biggest things was, I was suffering from a very, very severe mental illness at the time. If I could have listened to people and sought the right sort of mental help, this wouldn’t have happened.
“I would like to say to [Joe's parents] that I am deeply, deeply sorry for what happened and that if I could, if there was any way I could turn back the clock, I would do so in a heartbeat.”
Although Anu openly confessed to killing her partner, she was found guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
Her boyfriend of the past 19 years, Aaron Erbacher, also opened up about Anu’s past in an exclusive interview with News Corp’s Amelia Saw. Anu and Aaron met while she was on trial.
Aaron admitted he had “copped” jokes from his friends about his relationship with Anu, but insisted she was not “pure evil”.
“It’s not as though she doesn’t have to deal with this in her own head every other day of the week anyway,” he said.
“(And) ever since I met Anu, it’s been ‘you know, you might wake up with a needle hanging out of your arm’. And I’d say, ‘yeah? And?’.
“People would look at me really strange and I’d say, ‘Well, if I wake up with a needle hanging out of my arm I wake up. And if I don’t wake up, well I don’t wake up’,” he said.
I would like to say to [Joe's parents] that I am deeply, deeply sorry for what happened and that if I could, if there was any way I could turn back the clock, I would do so in a heartbeat.
But Joe’s mother, Maria Cinque, is less forgiving.
“Don’t tell me this bulls**t about… you didn’t know what you are doing because I don’t believe you,” she said in a message to Anu on Sunday Night.
“You have killed the most precious thing I had in my life, my first son, my first born. The one that was going to carry his grandfather’s name is not here anymore.”
If you or someone you know needs support, help can be found at Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.
This article was first published on Marie Claire.
