Saasha was on the phone when she overheard a chilling threat made to her daughter Jessica Geddes on the other end of the line. Days later, her loved one was found dead

A mother of a woman murdered by her boyfriend has criticized the justice system for failing her daughter.

Melbourne wife Saasha Brimble lost Jessica Geddes, 27, to her daughter’s abusive and controlling partner Robert Rickerby, 30, on November 6, 2020.

Rickerby was charged with murder before it was downgraded to manslaughter on the eve of his trial in May, after he struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty.

Mrs Brimble said her daughter had tried several times to alert authorities as she was being physically and verbally abused, isolated and starved.

The mother once claimed that she was on the phone with her daughter, who had a child of her own, and could hear Rickerby threatening and abusing her lover.

She said Rickerby had threatened to send Mrs Brimble back to her parents in a body bag. Days later, she was found dead in her Endeavor Hills home.

Sarah Brimble (pictured with her granddaughter Arianna-Leigh at the funeral of her eldest daughter Jessica Geddes) said police failed her daughter and other women after it took them 18 months to charge Rickerby with murder – after media attention

Jessica Geddes, 27, (pictured) was isolated and starved by her boyfriend, who also took her Centerlink payments and abused and assaulted her over a period of three years.

“I had a detective tell me that my daughter might still be alive if the police did their job properly,” Ms Brimble told police. Herald Sun.

During the volatile relationship, Ms. Geddes had alerted police, hospital staff, friends, neighbors and a 7-Eleven employee to her boyfriend’s assault, but it fell on deaf ears.

Rickerby will face a High Court hearing on Monday, where he will face Ms Brimble as prosecutors argue their case before sentencing.

Ms Geddes suffered more than 50 skeletal injuries, according to a post-mortem examination.

Court documents alleged the 27-year-old’s injuries included 16 rib fractures, four vertebral fractures and 10 fractures in both hands.

According to a forensic pathologist, the injuries appeared to have occurred over “days, weeks, months and possibly years” and were not self-inflicted or treated.

Ms Brimble, who described her daughter as bubbly and driven, said the 27-year-old was living in Queensland when she met Rickerby on a dating site in 2017.

Within days he had ‘taken’ Mrs Geddes to Victoria, leaving behind her five-year-old daughter Arianna-Leigh.

Over the next three years, Jessica was beaten, isolated, and starved.

Rickerby took control of her life, claiming her Centrelink payments for herself and ensuring she had no money to buy food, clothing or personal items.

Before Mrs Geddes met Rickerby she weighed a healthy 79kg, but at the time of her death her weight had dropped to an alarming 46kg.

Robert Rickerby (pictured) was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Jessica Geddes, who he met on a dating app. But he recently struck a deal with the prosecutor and pleaded guilty to manslaughter

‘He broke my girl. He slowly broke her,” Ms Brimble said.

The mother said her daughter was struggling with mental health issues and had not told any of her loved ones the address where she lived.

‘I would have been there in a heartbeat, but I didn’t know where she lived until four days before she died. I would have had a team with me, a team with me trying to get her,” she said.

The mother said she felt like her “hands were tied” because she couldn’t call police and tell them an address where they could help her daughter.

But Ms Geddes herself showed moments of courage – such as in September 2019 when she went to her friend’s house after an incident left her with blood oozing from a large wound on the forehead.

Ms Geddes’ friend called police after telling them Rickerby had attacked her.

The 27-year-old told officers Rickerby punched her multiple times and hit her in the head with a hammer – and said it wasn’t the first time he had attacked her.

Although Rickerby was arrested, he denied assaulting his girlfriend and claimed Ms Geddes was prone to self-harm.

He was ultimately not charged for the incident, despite police preparing a piece of evidence.

He later told a friend that he had hit Ms Geddes that day.

Ms Brimble – who ran a Facebook campaign to get justice for her daughter – said the system had failed her eldest child as well as other women.

The mother feels that the police did not want to know about the case because her daughter was not an “elite, wealthy woman.”

Ms Brimble also believes that without her speaking to the media, an arrest may never have taken place – which came eight days after she first drew media attention to her daughter’s death.