When Mel Sell realised she was on the phone with her close friend as her fiancé ran her down with his car, she was inconsolable.
Their phone conversation on December 28, 2017 would be the last conversation Alicia Little would ever have.
Despite resuscitation attempts, the 41-year-old mum of four would die at the scene.
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“I’d answered her call and she’d said, excuse my language, but this is her quote, ‘Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that s**t’,” Mel recalled.
“And I said, ‘Same to you, Darl, sorry I hadn’t called in a couple of days.’
“And then there was just this loud noise, just like somebody was running through grass is the best way to describe the noise … it was just this loud whooshing and the phone cut out.”
Alicia Little and Charles Evans Credit: 7NEWS Alicia was hit by her partner’s car and killed in 2017. Credit: 7NEWS That was the sound of Alicia’s partner of four years Charles Evans hitting her with his Toyota Hilux outside their Kyneton property situated about an hour north-west of Melbourne.
After fleeing the scene with Alicia’s phone, Evans called Mel’s husband Mick to tell him Alicia had attempted suicide.
“When Mick said to me that Charlie had rang him and said – that Alicia had tried to kill herself, obviously my reaction to my husband was, ‘well she can’t of, I was just talking to her’,” she said.
“Mick’s response was, I don’t know what’s going on, but Charlie’s just rang me and the cops are on their way and they’re trying to resuscitate her.
“And then obviously I started (to get) just hysterical. I was just bawling my eyes out.”
Mel and Mick would spend the next two days with homicide detectives but didn’t realise exactly what had happened until the end of the questioning.
“It wasn’t until they asked me a question – when was the last time you seen Alicia on her own? And that question, that stuck with me forever because Alicia and I spent a lot of time together, early days. The last six months, I think I’d only seen her on her own once,” she said.
“They then asked me to explain the sounds I heard. I was trying to, know, in my head, as far as I could comprehend, the phone call just disconnected.”
Mel said police asked her for a minute-by-minute breakdown of the phone call.
Mel Sell was speaking with Alicia Little when the phone cut out. Credit: 7NEWS “And then they asked me if I heard a car. Could I say it was a car? And that was the first realisation I had that he’d killed her with his car,” she said.
“So it was two days afterwards that I found out and then the realisation that the newspaper had said she died at approximately 3.45.
“That was the biggest kick in the guts I’ve ever felt in my life – to realise that my phone call to her was 3.45.
“I was talking to her when he killed her.”
The Victorian Office of Public Prosecution has come under fire for its decision to downgrade the murder charge to dangerous driving causing death and failure to render assistance.
Evans served left than three years in jail.
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If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.
In an emergency, call 000.
Advice and counselling for men concerned about their use of family violence: Men’s Referral Service, 1300 766 491.
Please support:
The Red Heart Campaign and Australian Femicide Watch: www.australianfemicidewatch.org/support
The Allison Baden-Clay Foundation: www.allisonbadenclayfoundation.org.au
Beyond DV: www.beyonddv.org.au
The Red Rose Foundation: www.redrosefoundation.com.au
White Ribbon Australia: www.whiteribbon.org.au
Friends with Dignity: www.friendswithdignity.org.au