[Talk by Carielyn Tunion at the Protest Action held Monday 29 March 2021, 5:30-6:30PM Sydney Town Hall; as submitted to The Australian Filipina]

Hi, I’m Carielyn.

I pay my respects to the Gadigal people on whose land we’re gathered on; and to all First Nations peoples on whose lands we live, work and organise. I offer our solidarity & anticolonial support as previously colonised peoples – and extend this solidarity to all First Nations & colonised communities around the world. From here to Palestine and to the so-called Philippines. Always was and always will be.

Tonight, once again, we hold vigil for Mhelody – to honour her life – and to condemn the shameful lack of justice around her death. These issues can be difficult to talk about but it is vital that we come together to hold this collective grief & fury and make our demands for change. So thank you for holding space with us today.


I didn’t know Mhelody, but those who did know and love her tell us she was the 25 year old daughter of a small farming family from Mindanao. She was a celebrated beauty queen who worked hard at a call centre in Makati City to support her family. Mhelody was on holiday in Australia when she was killed by Rian Ross Toyer, a former corporal in the Australian Air Force, during what he described as an act of erotic asphyxiation in his Wagga Wagga home. He admitted in court that Mhelody had never verbally consented to this, and that no clear boundaries had been established around the practice. Despite this, Judge Gordon Lerve – himself a Commodore in the Australian Air Force, claimed he was “satisfied on balance” that Mhelody had died by “a consensual sex act”. He said, and I quote, that "the deceased at least impliedly consented to the conduct". Firstly, her name is Mhelody Polan Bruno. Secondly, this is a disgusting minimisation of fatal violence – and a huge dishonour to Mhelody’s personhood and life. We know that consent, trust & communication are vital to any consensual kink practice or consensual sex. Clearly none of this was present at the time.

Let’s consider how much it would actually take to choke a person to death. I believe it’s safe to say that amongst the things Mhelody did not consent to, she also did not consent to be killed. Sadly Mehlody died a week before she was due to fly home to the Philippines. Though found culpable for her death, Toyer walked away with a mere 500 hours of community service. For context, Judge Lerve sentenced 3 young males of colour last year to 7.5 years in jail over a non-fatal incident. Yet he dismissed Mhelody’s death as being “towards the lower end of seriousness for matters of manslaughter”.

Anakbayan Sydney strongly contests this verdict, this process and the judge’s dismissive & minimising statements. We condemn Judge Lerve’s decision to make presumptions about a dead woman’s lack of consent to absolve Toyer of his brutal fatal violence. After First Nations women, Filipino women represent a disproportionately high percentage of sexual and domestic abuse victims in Australia. Colonial stereotypes that simultaneously hypersexualise and subordinate Filipino women reinforce the harmful attitudes and beliefs that dehumanise us and threaten our safety every day. As a transwoman of colour, as a Filipino, and as a working class migrant, Mhelody’s vulnerability to all the above was compounded by the risk of often-fatal violence that disproportionately affects transwomen of colour around the world. However, transwomen of colour are not vulnerable because of who they are. They are vulnerable because of the systems that devalue & dehumanise them – the same systems which protect & absolve those who harm them.

Particularly in this moment of reckoning with the normalised culture of violence and sexual abuse against women that saturates everything from Parliament to our personal lives, it is appalling that the state is protecting this man. Anakbayan Sydney condemns the Australian Government’s failure to uphold justice in this case of fatal violence against a transwoman of colour – and on stolen land, no less.

As with the case of Jennifer Laude, a Filipino transwoman who was brutally drowned to death in Olongapo by a US Marine, we see how the toxic combination of transphobia, patriarchy & Western imperialism creates an appalling culture of violence and normalised sexual assault. This culture of violence against women, LGBTQIA+ communities, and all those who experience the harms of misogyny – transcends to the Philippines, where these communities lead the fight against the fascist state everyday as poverty and repression intensifies. In return, President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration legalises killing and the pacification of political dissent through the Anti Terrorism Law — for which the Australian Government provided drafting advice and technical assistance.

Anakbayan Sydney condemns Australia’s active role in implementing fascism in the Philippines. We cannot achieve genuine justice as long as this culture of impunity, misogyny, and fascism continues in so-called Australia and the so-called Philippines. While Anakbayan takes an abolitionist view towards the justice system, we demand real justice for Mhelody — and for all our sisters & kin who have been devalued and dehumanised by the colonial state. We demand meaningful supports for Mhelody’s family who have lost a sister, a child and a precious loved one.

We demand JUSTICE FOR MHELODY.
- - - -

In September 2020, Toyer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was handed a non-custodial sentence of 500-hours of community service, enraging Bruno’s family and friends. The sentence was amended to encompass 22 months jail time, after the District Court judge who handed down the original non-custodial sentence re-opened the case.

Rian Ross Toyer, 33, was sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment for the manslaughter of Mhelody Bruno, 25, whom he killed while engaging in an act of erotic asphyxia. He will not be eligible for parole for 12 months.

Toyer was initially spared jail due to a " sentencing error"  by Judge Gordon Lerve, who had issued a 22-month intensive correction order – a course of action that is not permitted for the charge of manslaughter.

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