‘The pain never goes away’: Mum opens up on daughter’s heartbreaking murder

It has been 13 years to the day since Grazyna – also known as Grace – Scriha received the heart-wrenching news that her daughter Joanna had been brutally murdered by her boyfriend as they camped in a tent on a northern Queensland beach.

The 26-year-old was found lying in a pool of blood on Illawong Beach having been beaten to death by Andrew McGregor, who was charged with her murder before being declared insane and admitted to a high-security mental health facility where he remains to this day.

On the anniversary of Joanna’s death, Grace, who is originally from Poland, opened up to Starts at 60 about how she dealt with the devastating reality of losing her only child and how she takes comfort in the belief that Joanna is still watching over her.

“There isn’t a worse pain that a parent can experience than losing their child,” Grace said. ”I will feel a hole in my heart for the rest of my days. Passing time doesn’t heal the misery and emptiness, it only helps you to cope with daily life.”

Grace said she will never forget the moment she learned that her beautiful daughter, who she describes as her “guardian angel”, had been killed after her ex-husband, Joanna’s step-father, Sam showed up on her doorstep and delivered the tragic news.

“He looked at me and said ‘Joanna is dead’,” she said. “I can remember gazing back at him in shock then screaming and crying. I begged him to say that it wasn’t true. Then the police came and confirmed this horrible truth. I was heartbroken, shocked, I didn’t want to live anymore.”

After losing Joanna, Grace understandably struggled to come to terms with what had happened and visited her daughter’s graveside every day for six months, before realising she didn’t need to go to the cemetery to feel close to Joanna. Now she visits her daughter’s final resting place only on her birthday, anniversary, Christmas Day and Easter.

“I feel Joanna around all the time,” she said. “I was sort of sceptical before, but after Joanna died, it was like an awakening for me. There is life after death, I have no doubt about it.

“I have gotten a lot of signs from her that she’s still around…the clock has stopped, bulbs have blown. And she comes to me in my dreams.”

She admitted that, as well as visiting the cemetery, she will spend the 13th anniversary of Joanna’s death in the confines of her daughter’s bedroom where she will sit and speak to Joanna’s photograph, as she so often does.

Grace emigrated to Australia with Joanna, who was nine at the time, in 1988, in search of a better life for herself and her only child, after meeting and falling in love with a cane farmer from Bundaberg.

Former carer Grace also revealed that she no longer celebrates Christmas, preferring just to have a quiet day with long-term partner Steve instead, since losing Joanna.

She said: “Joanna actually met darling Steve and she told me ‘Mum, he’s a good man’. I feel like Joanna is happy that I have someone looking after me. She told me ‘Mum he is the right person for you’ and he is.”

Grace also said that she holds the mental health system responsible for what happened as McGregor had been admitted to the Mackay Base Hospital inpatient mental health service more than 20 times prior to murdering Joanna, according to the Daily Mercury.

She said: “When Joanna was younger she was addicted to a bit of drugs and alcohol. She got off this and she was helping Andrew. They loved each other but he was a schizophrenic, he stopped taking his tablets and murdered her. I blame Mental Health.”

However, she confessed she ultimately found it in her heart to forgive him, revealing that Joanna asked her to do so. She said: “Joanna asked me to forgive Andrew. I had to because I would have died otherwise from hate. It was good for me, for my soul and my own wellbeing.”

Do you have a message of condolence for Grace? Have you ever experienced the loss of a child?