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Every day, inside the Perth Magistrates Court, judges make decisions that have life-changing consequences.
For Virginia Giuffre, one made without her knowledge on January 14, 2025, was especially devastating.
On January 9, the prominent Jeffrey Epstein accuser was allegedly assaulted by her husband, Robbie Giuffre, during a family holiday in coastal town Dunsborough, in Western Australia. Bruised and battered, Virginia later went to the local hospital, alleging he cracked her sternum.
When Robbie walked out of the court five days later, it was with a family violence restraining order. But it wasn’t against him. Instead, Virginia had been banned from seeing their children for six months. How?
That question is what Good Weekend senior writer and Walkley Award-winner Melissa Fyfe, and WAtoday journalist Carla Hildebrandt, examine in episode three of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald’s investigative podcast, Virginia.
Robbie had not been charged with assault by police following the events of January 9, but they did serve him with a 72-hour restraining order.
That expired just hours before Robbie went inside the court on January 14, but that information wasn’t disclosed to the magistrate – nor was an incident in Colorado in 2015, when Robbie was charged with assault, jailed and temporarily banned from seeing Virginia by local law enforcement.
Like many services in Western Australia, the Perth Magistrates Court is under strain from the sheer scale of domestic violence.
WA Police attend about 80,000 family and domestic violence related call-outs each year, or one every six minutes. In 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found the state had Australia’s worst rate of family and domestic assaults.
In the 20-minute ex parte hearing – done in the absence of alleged abusers in the interest of keeping victims safe – Robbie told the magistrate that he feared Virginia and that his children were at risk.
The magistrate heard Robbie’s case and granted him the order, which meant Virginia couldn’t return home or contact her two youngest children, who were aged 15 and 17, for six months.
“[The six-month family violence restraining order] was the worst thing that could have happened to her,” says Amanda Roberts, who is married to Virginia’s brother Sky Roberts.
“Her children were her life … That was the biggest damage that was done.”
Immediately once she found out, Virginia objected to the order. But because of delays, Virginia’s court hearing was set for six months later, on July 11, 2025. The same length as the order itself.
Virginia died before that hearing could take place.
New episodes of Virginia are released every Saturday across The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAToday, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Listen to the third episode – where hosts Fyfe and Hildebrandt reveal how Virginia and Robbie’s family life in Perth ended in such a bitter place, the contents of Robbie’s seven-page affidavit that made the family violence order possible, and how the Australian legal system is failing domestic violence victims – in the player above, or click here.
A statement released to us by Robbie’s lawyer says: “Due to Virginia’s behaviour in January 2025, it was necessary for the courts to impose protective measures to safeguard Robert and the children from harm.”
Robbie’s lawyer also said in a statement that Virginia suffered “significant mental health issues and overreliance on prescription medication” due to the pressure of being in the public eye, and that “this may have led to Virginia’s change of perspective.”
Robbie was limited in responding to “various unfounded allegations,” for legal reasons, the statement says, but he and the children just want to “remember Virginia as a loving wife and mother.”
If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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Carla Hildebrandt is a journalist with WAtoday. She previously worked on ABC’s Four Corners and as a court reporter at The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. For secure contact: carlahildebrandt@proton.me.Connect via email.From our partners
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