FSI Blog

A MAN who believed he had supernatural sexual powers killed his partner’s best friend after encouraging her to sleep with him to exorcise her demons.

David Maxwell Shepherd, 38, was jailed for 19 years after admitting to murdering Malissa Mayfield at her Bossley Park home, in Sydney’s southwest, in June 2006. Mayfield, 29, died in hospital four days after being throttled in her home as her two young daughters lay sleeping just metres away. The bizarre details of the murder were made public for the first time yesterday, when the NSW Supreme Court lifted a suppression order on the case following a guilty plea by Shepherd’s de facto wife, Angela Wells. She was due to stand trial for murder, but prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to the lesser charge of being an accessary after the fact. Wells, 29, showed no emotion as she stood and quietly responded “guilty, your honour” to knowingly assisting Shepherd after the murder of Mayfield.

Wells was a longtime friend of Mayfield, and godmother to her youngest daughter. Shepherd met Mayfield through Wells, and the three of them bonded over a shared interest in the supernatural. Judge Peter Hidden said when sentencing Shepherd in December: “(Shepherd) told the deceased that he had psychic powers and that he could remove her bad demons by sleeping with her. Ms Wells had also told her that the offender could give her pleasure, and that if she had sex with him, all the evil spirits would go.” Shepherd and Mayfield slept together a few times, but Justice Hidden said she soon became afraid of the “hysteria” of his beliefs and tried to sever contact.

Justice Hidden said the circumstances involved “some bizarre interest in the supernatural” but he could make “no firm finding about why (Shepherd) went to the deceased’s house that morning, or about what it was which triggered his attack upon her”. Shepherd was jailed for 20 years, due to expire in 2025, with a non-parole period of 15 years. Barrister John Doris, acting for Wells, said he would push for a non-custodial sentence, and requested she undergo a psychiatric assessment. Judge Michael Grove continued her bail to face a sentencing hearing in the same court on February 22.

MOON TWP. — The Moon Area School Board has fired a health and physical education teacher who admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Beth Ann Chester, 26, of 2034 Swallow Hill Road, Scott Township, was fired Monday from her teaching position as well as from extra-duty paid positions such as co-breakfast monitor, co-sophomore class sponsor and assistant volleyball coach, effective Monday. She had taught in the district for more than two years. Chester, who had submitted a resignation letter from those positions on Dec. 27, admitted to police she had a sexual relationship with the boy and sent him lewd text messages that included nude photographs.

Although she had submitted her resignation, the school board — which had not met since her Jan. 4 arrest until last night — had not acted to accept it, keeping her on the district’s payroll until Monday. Instead, the board voted unanimously without discussion to fire Chester, who is charged with endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, sexual abuse of children, unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility and criminal solicitation. According to the criminal complaint, Chester first contacted the student via text message with the results of a girl’s volleyball game in late October. Chester, who acquired the boy’s phone number from a girl on the volleyball team, continued to send him messages, while also occasionally writing him late excuses and hall passes to allow them to spend extra time together.

The boy, who told police he was in love with Chester, denied the sexual contact and said the two talked about Chester’s relationship with her husband. But when police viewed the text messages, they found two nude photos of Chester, one nude photo of the boy and explicit messages. The communications ended Dec. 26, after the boy’s parents found the messages and met with Chester in Robinson Township that same day to talk about them. According to an Associated Press story, the parents told Chester if she resigned, they would not seek criminal charges.  Since her arrest, the district has held assemblies for students and faculty to discuss student-teacher relationships.