REBECCA Small, the sister of missing Bathurst teenager Jessica, has spoken of her torment over not waiting for her sister before heading home on the night Jessica was abducted.
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Rebecca was one of five witnesses to give evidence yesterday at the inquest into the presumed murder of Jessica, currently under way before deputy state coroner Sharon Freund at the Bathurst Court House.
Ms Small told the inquest she was in regular contact with her sister and said the last time she saw Jessica she was her “normal bubbly self”.
The last time Ms Small saw Jessica was on the eve of her disappearance when she was at her mother’s house, along with Jessica’s best friend Vanessa.
Ms Small said Jessica “seemed fine.”
Ms Small said she had organised a babysitter for her two small children that night and had taken the opportunity to go out.
She and Jessica had arranged to meet at the Amuse Me Centre at 10.30pm.
Ms Small told the inquest she recalled seeing Jessica out the front of the centre some time between 7pm and 9pm and spoke to her for about 10 minutes, but when she went back later that night she couldn’t locate her. She wasn’t overly worried, as her friend said Jessica had gone up to the park.
“I went there twice to find her,” she said. “Sarah [a friend of Jessica’s] came up to me and said Jess had gone round to the park.
“I said I was exhausted and was going home and told her to tell Jess to catch a cab to my place and I would pay for it.”
Solicitor Bill de Mars asked if what had happ-ened on that night now plays on her mind.
“I should have waited. I should have walked up to the park,” Ms Small said. “I feel very responsible.”
Counsel assisting the coroner, Ian Bourke, asked Ms Small about her former partner David Whyms, who was in jail at the time of Jessica’s abduction. She described him as a violent man who was addicted to heroin and had introduced her to the drug.
She said he also sold drugs and said Jessica didn’t get along with him, because she knew he treated her badly.
Mr Bourke asked Ms Small about theories surr-ounding Jessica’s disappearance and she said she had heard many things, from the “police had done her [to] I hurt her in some way or that she ran away”.
When asked by Mr Bourke what she thought had actually happened, Ms Small said: “Jess got into a car with a stranger and met with foul play.”
When asked if Jessica’s abduction could have been payback due to her association with Mr Whyms, Ms Small said she didn’t know of any reason for Jessica to be punished.
This was supported by Mr Whyms, who also gave evidence at the inquest yesterday.
In his evidence, Mr Whyms said it was “absurd” to suggest anyone would abduct Jessica as payback against him, calling it “a load of crap”.
