ALMOST 17 years after Jessica Small was abducted, deputy state coroner Sharon Freund yesterday found the Bathurst teenager “died at the hands of a person or persons unknown” and that her “death was suspicious”.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ms Freund handed down the findings late yesterday following a three-week inquest that heard evidence from more than 50 people.
She described Jessica Beth Small as a bright, fun-loving, outspoken and tenacious 15-year-old.
Ms Freund found evidence given by Vanessa Conlan, whose version of events was not believed by police in 1997, was “consistent throughout”, adding she “found her to be a forthright, compelling and honest witness” and a “witness of truth”.
Ms Freund also spoke about the serious inadequacies of the initial investigation and, while commending NSW Police for its concession on the opening day of proceedings, said to gloss over the ramifications of such a poor investigation would not be fair to Jessica, her family, Vanessa Conlan, the police who later properly investigated Jessica’s disappearance or the community at large.
She said there were many lessons to be learnt.
Ms Freund said the police investigation was seriously deficient in that it formed a view without proper basis and without any real investigation that Jessica had falsified her disappearance, and accordingly that the claims made by Vanessa Conlan were false.
Second, there was no officer in charge appointed to co-ordinate the investigation and disappearance.
Third, she said the police investigation failed to undertake a canvass of who was at Amuse Me Centre and Kings Parade on the night of October 25, 1997 which she said would have undoubtedly uncovered possibly crucial evidence.
Fourth, Ms Freund said police failed to take statements from witnesses who approached them in the days following Jessica’s abduction, in particular witness Robert Fitzpatrick.
“That somewhat extraordinary evidence – a girl apparently screaming and struggling in a whitish car, possibly a Commodore, at a location close to where Jessica was abducted, at a time close to when she was reported being abducted, clearly suggests a connection,” she said.
“... This may well have been the final sighting by any witness of Jessica with her abductor. It is beyond belief Bathurst police chose not to take a full statement from Mr Fitzpatrick in October 1997.”
Ms Freund also found there was no direct evidence linking the two persons of interest – Andrew McBride and Craig Gregory Robertson – to Jessica’s disappearance, but said there was no evidence to eliminate them either.
In conclusion, she found Jessica Small went missing in circumstances that indicate she was abducted, and her suspected murder did not receive the attention it deserved until the formation of Strike Force Carica II under the direction of Detective Sergeant Peter Smith.
She made two recommendations: that consideration be made for a significant reward leading to the conviction of any person or persons responsible for the abduction of Jessica Small; and consideration be given to implementing measures to achieve closer liaison between the Missing Persons Unit and the Homicide Squad in relation to long-term missing persons cases.
She then referred the matter back to the Unsolved Homicide Squad.
Jessica Small was last seen alive in the early hours of October 26, 1997 after she and her friend Vanessa Conlan accepted a lift with a stranger driving a white Holden Commodore, who minutes later attacked them in Hereford Street.
