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Evil In Australia: The Murder Of Sophie Collombet
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Solved case · 2014
Also known as Sophie Collombet's murder · Sophie Collombet's killing

The short answer
In March 2014, 21-year-old French exchange student Sophie Collombet was raped and beaten to death in Kurilpa Point Park in Brisbane, Australia. Benjamin James Milward was convicted of her murder and rape and sentenced to life in prison in 2016.
Start hereEvil In Australia: The Murder Of Sophie CollombetTruly Criminal · 22 minThe coverage index
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Video · YouTube · 22 min · 2024
Truly Criminal's 22-minute breakdown, the fullest single telling on file.
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The case file
On 27 March 2014, Sophie Collombet, a 21-year-old French student, was raped and killed in Kurilpa Point Park in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She had been walking home from an evening lecture at Griffith University, where she was studying for a Master of Business.
Her body was found in the park the following morning. The case drew public criticism of the safety of the park, which sits along the Brisbane River within the city's cultural precinct, and prompted calls for better lighting and patrols after earlier reports of crime there.
On 7 April 2014, Benjamin James Milward, from Ipswich, Queensland, was arrested and charged with Collombet's murder and rape. Milward had been living at a nearby hostel and had failed to return by curfew on the night of the killing. On 25 October 2016, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and rape at the Supreme Court of Queensland.
The killing prompted significant public reaction in Brisbane. On 10 April 2014, more than 2,000 people took part in a march and candlelight vigil in Collombet's memory, from King George Square to Kurilpa Point Park, with organisers saying the event aimed to show that Brisbane cares about violence against women. Collombet was buried in her hometown of Saint-Julien-Mont-Denis in south-eastern France, where around 1,200 people took part in her funeral procession.
4 dated entries · 2014–2016
Sophie Collombet is raped and bludgeoned to death in Kurilpa Point Park, Brisbane, after leaving a lecture at Griffith University.
Benjamin James Milward is arrested and charged with Collombet's murder and rape.
Over 2,000 people take part in a march and candlelight vigil in Brisbane in Collombet's memory.
Milward is sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and rape at the Supreme Court of Queensland in Brisbane.
2 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
From the record
2 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
PressABC News (Australia)Accessed Jul 10, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 10, 2026
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