Carol Micallef knows nothing can stop the pain she has felt ever since her son Bailey Jones was killed on December 9, 2022, stabbed in the heart by his cousin Dominic Saliba.
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But she is working hard to ensure no other parents have to feel the same distress she has been forced to endure.
A key to that is changing laws and tightening regulations applying to people on bail or serving intensive corrections order or community corrections orders.
At the time of Bailey's death Saliba was on house arrest and serving an intensive corrections order for armed robbery and threatening a 14-year-old girl with a knife.
However the order was not able to prevent drugs being used at Saliba's home, a rifle being stored in the home or Saliba using a large knife to end his 18-year-old cousin's life.
After a NSW Supreme Court trial in June 2025 found Saliba guilty of manslaughter, he was sentenced to seven years and nine months in jail, with a non-parole period on four years and three months.
The sentence was backdated to April 22, 2023, meaning Saliba will be eligible for release on July 21, 2027.
Since then Ms Micallef has been fighting to change the law applying to people in court orders, ensuring restrictions are properly enforced.
With support from State Member for South Coast, Liza Butler, Ms Micallef has twice met with NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley to discuss changes under Bailey's Law.
In a petition to State Parliament, Ms Micallef said her son's death revealed "serious flaws in how ICOs are applied, particularly for violent and repeat offenders."
She said public trust was eroding while reoffending, particularly among people on bail or court orders, was on the rise.
"An ICO must no longer be seen as a 'soft option' but as a tool of justice that protects the community," Ms Micallef said.
She has asked the government to introduce 10 changes under Bailey's Law:
- Random in-person compliance checks per week with the responsible person or sureties for CCO/ICO bail conditions
- Strengthening compliance requirements
- Stricter eligibility for violent and repeat offenders
- Intensifying supervisory measures
- Electronic ankle bracelet tracking and enforced zones
- Mandatory random drug and alcohol testing for people on CCOs or ICOs
- Regular social media monitoring with red flags in place
- Random drug-detection and weapons dog searches of residences
- Person responsible in an ICO to report if travelling
- Strengthening the power and ability of courts to review.
Ms Micallef said Bailey would still be alive if those regulations had been in place before the stabbing.
But to get Bailey's Law debated in State Parliament, Ms Micallef needs to collect 20,000 signatures on her e-petition within just 12 weeks.
She said the possibility of Saliba being released from jail in just over a year was driving her efforts.
"It's scaring me," she said.
"I want this in place before he gets out.
"It's about tightening up the laws to stop people reoffending," Ms Micallef said.
The petition is available on the NSW Parliament e-petitions website.
