The Kiss and Kill podcast, produced by 7News, aims to take audiences inside some of Australia's most high-profile cases of intimate partner homicides and reveal dangerous patterns of behaviour that need recognition before it is too late. The series covers cases including those of Gerard Baden-Clay, Louis Mahony, Tyrone Thompson, Anthony Eriksen, Charles Evans and Borce Ristevski.
The inclusion of Charles Evans' case marks a significant moment for a family that has spent years questioning why the death of their loved one did not receive harsher legal consequences. Evans, 45, must serve at least two-and-a-half years in prison for dangerous driving causing death and failure to render assistance after fatally striking Alicia Maree Little on December 28, 2017.
Little, 41, and Evans began living together in Kyneton in 2017. By Christmas 2017, the relationship was irreparable and Little decided to end the relationship. On the day Little died, she told her mother she was packing her bags and then in a second call, Evans could be heard hurling abuse at her.
Shortly before the fatal incident, Little called triple-0 and asked police to remove Evans because he was abusive and drunk. But by the time officers arrived 16 minutes later, Little had been fatally injured. Evans took Little's phone, got in his Toyota Hilux at the back of the property, and drove around a water tank and a fence between 12 km/h and 16 km/h. He put on the brakes and skidded for 2.2 metres after hitting his partner.
Little died from catastrophic injuries including severe blunt trauma and cuts to the liver, and police found her foaming at the mouth. After hitting Little, Evans dashed to a friend's house and complained she had bitten his nose. He called her phone twice, told others he saw her alive and well on the verandah when he left and that she had committed suicide.
The case was not without complexity in the legal system. Evans was charged with murder shortly after Little's death and in December 2018 he was committed to stand trial on that charge. Both family friends and Little's brother said the charges were downgraded to culpable driving, and it was at the plea hearing that they found out the charges had again changed. Evans pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to four years' jail.
The Little family's frustration extends beyond the sentence itself. The family and friends of Little were left disappointed and heartbroken when Evans was sentenced to a maximum of four years in jail. Now they have been dealt a further blow, with the Office of Public Prosecutions informing them they do not intend to appeal. They have questions about how Little's death has come to this and have spoken out about how they feel let down by Victoria's justice system.
The podcast series arrives at a moment when conversations about intimate partner violence in Australia are intensifying. Kiss and Kill aims to reveal dangerous patterns of behaviour we need to recognise before it is too late. By examining cases across multiple convictions and family circumstances, the series seeks to illuminate warning signs and systemic issues that may prevent future tragedies.
For the Little family, the podcast represents another opportunity for their daughter's story to be heard and for the public to understand what they believe was a failure of the justice system to adequately address the gravity of her death.