Nine News/Canva
- Lisa was devastated when her beloved Dad was betrayed by his own wife
- She found out about her dad’s attack on social media
- Lisa is determined to keep her fathers memory alive
Here Lisa Hinrichsen, 34, Adelaide, SA tells her own story in her own words.
‘Happy Birthday, Dad,’ I beamed, wrapping him in a cuddle.
It was November 2018, and my partner, John, then 25, and I were visiting my dad, Steven for his 63rd birthday.
‘When is my grandson due?’ he asked excitedly.
Placing his hands on my belly, Dad softly sang the lyrics to his favourite Beatles song, ‘I want to hold your hand’.
My bub must have been able to hear him, as he began kicking like crazy.
I was eight months along with my third child, and Dad was counting down the days until my boy was in his arms.
When I was growing up, Dad had all the time in the world for me and my siblings, Tanya, then 42, Craig, 39, and Michelle, 34.
When he wasn’t working as a groundsman, he was teaching us how to fish, tending to his roses, and sharing his secrets to the perfect barbecue. We loved watching The Simpsons on telly together too.
In early 1999 when I was nine, my mum, Maxine, then 40, and Dad sadly split.
A year later Dad, then 45, met a woman named Tanya, 26, and she moved in with him soon after. They married in January 2004. Despite being my stepmum, Tanya felt more like a close friend.
And I was delighted when they welcomed three more children in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
But I soon learned that their relationship wasn’t as happy as it appeared from the outside. They were always arguing.
In December 2007 I welcomed my firstborn, Stacey, followed by Alexia nine years later in August 2016.
In 2017, Dad ended up in a wheelchair after tripping in the garden and breaking his femur in two places, requiring invasive ops to hold his bones in place. After surgery, Dad was left in a lot of pain.
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Tanya became his full-time carer, looking after the cooking and cleaning plus helping Dad dress.
Dad and I spoke on the phone most days and I visited frequently. So when I dropped in for a surprise visit on his birthday on November 8, 2018, I had no idea it would be the last time I ever saw him alive.
On December 15, at 38 weeks pregnant, I was taken to hospital to be induced.
Waiting in the delivery room, I was scrolling through Facebook on my phone when I spotted a headline.
63-year-old man found unresponsive at Nathan Court, Morphett Vale, home, it read.
Panic coursed through me.
‘That’s Dad’s street,’ I said to John, showing him the article.
I tried to call Dad and Tanya, but they didn’t pick up. Next, I called his neighbour.
This can’t be happening I cried
‘I’m so sorry, it’s your dad,’ she confirmed, gently.
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I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
‘This can’t be happening,’ I cried as John wrapped his arms around me.
How was I supposed to concentrate on delivering our baby when my dad was gone?
But with John’s support, I delivered our son, Xavier, just 10 hours later.
Holding him in my arms, I was heartbroken knowing Dad would never get to meet his grandson.
Knowing he had a heart condition, my first thought was Dad had suffered a heart attack. He hadn’t though.
I was horrified to learn that my stepmum Tanya, then 41, her lover, Gavin Skinner, 43, and their friend Robert Thrupp, 45 had been arrested and charged with Dad’s murder.
How could she? I wept.
Sure, they had their ups and downs like most couples, but Dad had always treated her with kindness and respect.
After Tanya’s arrest, the social worker appointed to her called me with a message. Shockingly, my wicked stepmother had asked if I’d feed her chickens.
As time passed, I swore I wouldn’t rest until we had justice.
Finally, two and a half years after Dad’s death, in June 2021, our entire family gathered at the Adelaide Supreme Court after the trio pleaded not guilty to Dad’s murder.
The court heard Dad had unwittingly been part of a love triangle when Tanya had begun a sexual relationship with Skinner, who was Dad’s mate, in early 2018.
Despite Tanya still being married to Dad, she and Skinner claimed to be engaged. Rubbing it in Dad’s face, Tanya had even worn an engagement ring.
The pair were so desperate to be together, Tanya even asked Dad if Skinner could move into the home they shared.
When Dad said no, things turned bitter.
During the trial, I learned Skinner had violently assaulted Dad on multiple occasions.
He really needs to go, Tanya had written in one message, referring to Dad.
A knife to the throat should do the job, Skinner had replied.
On December 14, Skinner texted Tanya, I’m soooooo ready to go on a hunting spree.
If it’s to do him… then I give you my permission, she replied.
That night, Tanya met Skinner and Thrupp at a house in Christie Downs, around 4km from Dad’s. She then handed over her house key before going to bed, giving the two men free rein to assault Dad.
When she returned home at around 9am, she found Dad dead on the living room floor. He’d been stabbed multiple times in the head, chest, back, hands and foot.
Part of his scalp was on the floor beside his body.
Dad’s wedding ring had been taken off his finger and thrown into a corner.
‘A knife to the throat should do the job’
Phoning emergency services, Tanya cruelly feigned concern, telling the operator she wasn’t sure if Dad was breathing.
She’d then texted Skinner two photographs of my poor dad’s bloodied body.
Steve’s dead, she’d typed.
Prosecutors argued that with Dad dead, Tanya planned on moving in with her lover. Horrifyingly, Tanya had contacted Dad’s life insurance company on a few occasions.
Prosecutors argued that Dad’s murder was ‘wanted, agreed and planned’ because my sweet dad had been in the way of Tanya’s love affair with Skinner.
In July 2021, Tanya Hinrichsen, then 43, and Gavin Scott Skinner, 46, were found guilty of murder, while Robert John Thrupp, 47, was found guilty of manslaughter.
The following February, Tanya and Skinner were sentenced to life, with non-parole periods of 22 and 24 years respectively.
Thrupp received nine years with a non-parole period of seven.
Justice Sophie David said, ‘You were his wife and you were his carer. You knew that he loved and trusted you.
‘He was a vulnerable man… confined to a wheelchair, yet you encouraged another to murder him for your own selfish purposes.’
‘This was nothing less than a frenzied attack,’ she said to Skinner. ‘It was completely unjustified.’
The case had taken such an impact on my mental health, I gave my victim impact statement via video call. Reading aloud, I choked back tears.
‘My father was my hero – he always lifted me up and was always proud of me. He definitely didn’t deserve what you have done,’ I said.
While it was a relief knowing Tanya Hinrichsen, Gavin Skinner and Robert Thrupp were behind bars, it felt like our family had received the life sentence.
Following an appeal, Tanya successfully had her conviction overturned in 2023, and a new trial was ordered. Before the trial, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
In July this year, she was re-sentenced to nine years, six months in jail with a non-parole period of seven years, seven months and seven days. With time already served, she may be eligible for parole in July next year.
I felt so let down by the justice system.
‘Mr Hinrichsen tried to persuade you to stay with him, but you resented him for what you saw as interfering in your relationship with Mr Skinner,’ Justice Anne Bampton said.
‘You exposed him to the thuggery of Mr Skinner by participating in the plan to assault him and by providing… access to your keys,’ she added.
Now six years on from his death, Dad is never too far from our thoughts.
Each year on his birthday, I bake his favourite strawberry jam upside-down cake, light a candle and turn on an episode of The Simpsons, which my kids Stacey, now 17, Alexia, eight, and Xavier, six, love too.
Dad will forever be in our hearts.
