JUST $100,000 will be offered as a reward for information about Jessica Small’s abduction and murder – despite the state’s deputy coroner recommending at least five times that amount be made available.
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The State Government is expected to announce the $100,000 reward next week in a last-ditch attempt to solve a 17-year mystery and tragedy for Jessica’s mother Ricki Small.
But the size of the reward has shocked Mrs Small, who was expecting a much bigger sum to be offered.
From the time he took over the police investigation in 2008, Detective Sergeant Peter Smith has believed the case is “solvable”.
And at an inquest into Jessica’s death in June, Detective Sergeant Smith supported the state offering a reward of “not less than half a million dollars” to try to flush out the killer.
After all these years you’d think they would be interested in making an effort, in finding out what happened to Jessica
- Ricki Small
State deputy coroner Sharon Freund supported that request when she handed down her findings on June 6 this year, recommending to the Police Minister Stuart Ayres and Attorney General Brad Hazzard that consideration be given to offering a monetary reward, which she said “should not, in my view, be less than $500,000”, for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible for Jessica’s murder.
The recommendation came after more than 16 years of investigation and a concession from NSW Police that the original investigation into Jessica Small’s murder was seriously deficient.
The news of a reward also gave Mrs Small some hope that someone might come forward and help her find out what happened to her daughter, but that hope was shattered this week when she learned the reward would be nowhere near the sum recommended by the coroner.
Mrs Small received a letter from Police Minister Ayres saying after receiving the coroner’s recommendation, he forwarded her findings to the Police Commissioner for consideration, who in turn supported a reward offer in the amount of $100,000.
The reward, it said in the letter, would be announced shortly.
Yesterday, Mrs Small said given the history that surrounds her daughter’s murder investigation, which includes officers attached to the original strike force failing to take statements from key witnesses, including a man who was possibly the last person to see Jessica alive, the reward was extremely disappointing.
“After all these years you’d think they would be interested in making an effort, in finding out what happened to Jessica,” she said.
“If police want to crack this case and really find out what happened, it should be $500,000.
“It needs to be enough to flush out anyone with information, to encourage them to come forward.
“But $100,000 – it’s just disappointing.”
