45

Teenage Lifers

On Friday, 9 September 1988, police were called to a youth centre at St Marys, in Sydney’s outer west. Two unkempt boys had arrived in a car, but neither looked old enough to drive. It turned out the car had been stolen.

The youths were identified as Bronson Blessington, 14, and Matthew Elliott, 16. Both had extensive criminal records and were homeless. Authorities prepared to add car theft to their list of convictions when the boys told them friends of theirs had killed a woman the day before.

Both were driven to the nearby suburb of Minchinbury, where they directed police to a dam in a paddock. In the dead of night, police located the partially clothed body of Janine Balding, 20. There was extensive bruising over her body. She had been beaten in the face and body with a blunt object or fist. Further bruising around her face, neck, wrists and ankles indicated that she had been bound and gagged. Bruising around her vagina and anus indicated sexual assault. An autopsy revealed that the young woman had died by drowning.

In time, Bronson Matthew Blessington, Matthew James Elliott and Stephen Wayne Jamieson, 22, would be convicted of Janine’s abduction, rape and murder.

On 8 September, Blessington and Elliott met Jamieson, 15-year-old Wayne Wilmot and Carol Arrow, 17, at The Station, a refuge in Sydney’s CBD.

Wilmot had been in trouble with the police since his infancy. He lived on the streets and had more than 12 convictions for sexual assault, indecent assault, stealing and robbery.

Arrow had run away from her rural home to Sydney. She, too, made the streets her home, surviving by prostitution and property crime. She had met Wilmot that morning, and became infatuated by him.

The eldest of the newly formed group, Jamieson, also had a string of convictions for sexual assault, malicious wounding, robbery and theft. Known as ‘Shorty’, he had a simian countenance: a long face and downturned mouth. Psychiatric testing would later determine that he had the intellectual and emotional capacity of a 10-year-old.

It was later claimed that all five had plotted their crime at The Station. It was alleged that Blessington suggested, ‘Why don’t we get a sheila and rape her?’ They decided to go to Sutherland railway station, 40 kilometres south of Sydney. The victim would be picked at random.

On the mid-afternoon train, the gang drew attention with their untidy appearance. One woman recalled the gang menacing students. She told police, ‘The gang told the students to give them their seats or they would bash their heads in. Jamieson seemed to be the centre of attention and he sat next to me. One of the others kept showing him a pornographic book and making filthy remarks about it.’

At Sutherland the gang loitered around the shops for a while before returning to the northern end of the railway station to stalk a victim.

Janine Balding had worked in the city that day. She had been expected to spend the night at her fiance’s home in Sutherland, but she never arrived.

On 9 September, detectives began interrogating Elliott and Blessington at length. The pair stuck to their story – they had only been along for the ride. They claimed a street kid named Scott Agius and a man they knew only as ‘Shorty’ were responsible for the abduction, rape and murder. Two other street kids, Wayne Wilmot and Carol Arrow, had been in the car too. Elliott and Blessington both said Agius and ‘Shorty’ had planned the murder.

Authorities soon had Wilmot and Arrow in custody. They supported the statements of Blessington and Elliott, claiming that ‘Shorty’ was responsible. But their stories were falling apart. All four were charged with murder. Shortly afterwards, police took Agius into custody, but he had a watertight alibi and was soon released.

Authorities had photos of 51 criminals nicknamed ‘Shorty’. They showed them to the youths repeatedly. All four claimed to be unable to identify the fifth gang member. Even when a shot of Jamieson was produced, none would bat an eyelid. They continued providing vague descriptions and false information.

Witnesses eventually identified Jamieson from the mug shots. On 22 September 1988, he was arrested in Queensland. ‘I didn’t kill anyone,’ Jamieson told police. He said he knew Wayne Wilmot and Carol Arrow. He also knew a Bronson and a Matthew, but didn’t know their surnames. Authorities told him the four had implicated him in the murder of Janine Balding, saying he was the one who killed the young woman. In his record of interview, Jamieson allegedly confessed to sexually assaulting Janine Balding.

‘Did you rape her?’ an officer questioned.

‘No, I didn’t touch her. I was only with them,’ Jamieson replied.

‘Would you be prepared to undergo a blood test for comparison with samples taken from the dead girl?’

‘I don’t like needles,’ Jamieson said. ‘Do I have to? I did only root her once.’

‘Did this woman agree to have sex with you?’ he was asked.

‘No,’ Jamieson replied.

According to police, Jamieson then gave a full confession, saying Janine Balding had been thrown into her car and that Arrow and Wilmot were in the front seat, with Wilmot at the wheel. Blessington held Janine at knifepoint while Elliott raped her. Jamieson said he held her legs during the rape. Later, Blessington took over, slashing at Janine’s skirt with the knife and forcing her to perform oral sex on him. Arrow sat beside Wilmot, stroking his penis as he drove. As they headed towards Minchinbury, their victim was raped repeatedly. One of the gang remarked, ‘It’s a nice night for a murder.’

According to his statement, Jamieson directed Wilmot towards a secluded dam. When they arrived, Arrow and Wilmot remained in the car, with Arrow fellating the 15-year-old. Jamieson explained what happened to police.

 

Jamieson: Matthew and Bronson had sex with her. The gag had come off. She was screaming. Then I had my turn. I had sex with her. She was pretty worn out by now and wasn’t screaming as much. And then Bronson had sex with her again. He slapped her across the face because she wouldn’t buck. Then after that Matthew and Bronson started talking about killing her.

 

Janine was raped again, then tied in a crouched position, her knees drawn around her chest and her arms behind her back. Her feet were bound and the rope was wrapped tightly around her neck. If she moved, she would choke. Her face was covered, and a gag was shoved in her mouth. She was then pulled and pushed through the paddock up to a barbed wire fence.

All the gang members provided conflicting statements. It was impossible to know who killed Janine. She was carried and dragged over the barbed wire fence and taken to the dam, where her head was forced into the shallows. She died with her face in the mud.

After the murder, the gang took off in Janine’s car. It broke down, so they proceeded on foot. They used Janine’s ATM card to withdraw $300 and split the money before going their separate ways. Elliott later pawned Janine’s engagement ring.

All five were charged with the abduction, rape and murder of Janine Balding. It was later determined that Wilmot and Arrow had played no part in the murder, but they were ultimately convicted of abduction. Wilmot was sentenced to 10 years’ hard labour. Arrow received a three-year good behaviour bond and walked free after 19 months on remand.

Blessington, Elliott and Jamieson were tried in June 1990. They showed no remorse, laughing and giggling throughout proceedings. The jury considered the verdict for two hours before finding the trio guilty on all charges. They were sentenced on 19 September 1990.

 

Justice Newman: To sentence people so young to long terms of imprisonment is of course a heavy task. However, the facts surrounding the commission of this murder are so barbaric that I believe I have no alternative. So grave is the nature of this case that I recommend that none of these offenders should ever be released.

 

The abduction, rape and murder of Janine Balding remains one of the most terrible crimes in Australia’s history.

In 1997, the premier of New South Wales, Mr Bob Carr, instigated legislation making it harder for 10 of the state’s worst prisoners – being the two men who abducted and murdered Mrs Virginia Morse in 1973; the five men who murdered nursing sister Anita Cobby in 1986; and Janine Balding’s killers – to ever qualify for parole.

At the opening of the new Supermax prison at Goulburn in 2001, Premier Carr announced that the legislation had been passed and that now all of these 10 killers had in essence been ‘cemented in their cells’ and there they would die.

But this may not be the case. Because one of Janine Balding’s killers, Bronson Blessington, who was 14 at the time of the murder, made an application in 1996 – one year before the legislation was introduced – for his life sentence to be redetermined. On 16 April 2005, he was granted permission to apply for a release date by the NSW Supreme Court.

When this happens, in all probability Blessington could be granted a non-parole period of 25 or 30 years from the time that the murder was committed which means that, given that he has already served 16 years, he could be out of jail in less than 15 years.

That is of course unless, once again, the Carr government steps in and ensures that Blessington’s permission to apply for a release date is revoked and that he remains behind bars forever. The fair-minded citizens of New South Wales expect nothing less given the horrendous nature of his crime.