John Torney not guilty of Mildura toddler murder: What the jury didn't know

Any case that involves the death of a child will capture the public's attention. But this was a real "whodunnit".

Could a mother really be responsible for the brutal death of her daughter?

According to John Torney, 32, his former partner Peta-Ann Francis was.

They had been together for about five months at the time of Nikki's death, and he had been at home by himself with Nikki, 2, for most of the morning of her death.

From the beginning, his defence barrister, Julie Condon, tried to impress upon the jury that Ms Francis was no normal mother.

According to her, Ms Francis was a woman to whom the laws of nature did not apply.

While it was Mr Torney who was charged with Nikki's murder, one could be forgiven for thinking it was Ms Francis who was on trial.

All of her dirty laundry was aired to the jury. Mr Torney's can only be revealed now.

From allegations of ice use, previous instances of violence and a chequered criminal history; here's what the jury never got to hear about John Torney before it reached its verdict.

His relationship with Nikki

The last independent sighting of Nikki was about 3.15pm the day before her death, a court was previously told.

When a neighbour, Jermayne Kennedy, came to the house to speak with Mr Torney about repairing his car, he saw Nikki sitting on the floor and Torney facing the TV.

As he approached, he saw Mr Torney lean over to Nikki, who was crying, and say "Shut the f--- up you little c---," the court heard in a pre-trial hearing.

Mr Kennedy was concerned and knocked on the window.

"Oh, she does my head in this one," Mr Torney allegedly told Mr Kennedy when he came into the house.

"Sometimes I feel like belting the s--- out of her."

The jury never got to hear the evidence of Jermayne Kennedy, which was ruled inadmissible by the court.

Another neighbour, Nikki-Lee Caton told police Mr Torney "wasn't nice to the kids."

She recalled a time when little Nikki grabbed her legs when she came to the house. Mr Torney had said to Nikki, "F---ing get away from her".

Another neighbour, Sherylee Smith, told the court she had seen Mr Torney grab Nikki by one arm and drag her up the driveway in the weeks before the toddler's death.

"Drug use" 

There was talk on Oram Court, where Mr Torney and Ms Francis lived, about Mr Torney's alleged use of the drug ice.

According to neighbour Nikki-Lee Caton, Mr Torney had asked her if she knew where to buy ice.

"I know that Johnny uses it because a few weeks ago he came over and asked me for some smokes like they always do," Ms Caton told police.

"He also asked me could I get hold of any "old time speed". I told him I couldn't and he then asked me could I get him some ice.

"I couldn't believe that he had asked me, I hardly even knew him."

She said she often heard noise coming from the house in the early hours of the morning.

"I have never seen him use ice ... [but] I can pick a junkie a mile away and he is definitely one."

"Propensity for violence"

Mr Torney's own mother had told the court he had previously had issues relating to violence towards others.

But, she said, they had never involved children.

The court suppressed information that involved any issues Mr Torney had with anger management and the treatment of it.

The Department of Health and Human Services had been involved in the care of Nikki, but closed the file in the months before her death.

It had previously found Mr Torney to be "unsatisfactory" due to criminal checks.

Nikki's mother sat through almost three days of intensive cross-examination.

All Ms Condon had to prove was that there was a chance that Ms Francis killed Nikki, and in the end the jury couldn't rule it out.

Ms Francis was in court to see the man formally accused of her daughter's murder set free. The man who had pointed the finger of blame squarely at her.

Mr Torney took his first steps out of custody onto the streets of Mildura hours after the not-guilty verdict.

He seemed to be waiting for his family to pick him up, but at first the only people waiting were media.

At the end of the trial, the question remains: will there ever be justice for Nikki?

Barring any new evidence, that now seems unlikely.

By all accounts Nikki was a bubbly, independent and polite little girl.

She was only two, but always insisted on dressing herself and was often seen riding her push bike around the court.

A little girl's life is lost, but the story remains about the two adults whose job it was to protect her.

Sunraysia Daily