Kate Kelly present at the Kelly home, with the Fitzpatrick assault upon her aged 14, being the catalyst for the escalation of poisonous police vendettas. Police/ex-convicts were used to acting with impunity. Kate had tried to seek justice for her outlawed brothers, suffered repeated incidents of police harassment and brutality at her home while her mother was in prison serving a lengthy-term, she sought Ned's clemency in a public campaign in Melbourne, to no avail, and was clearly mentally and physically exhausted by the end of 1880.