By Sarah McPhee
The family of schoolgirl Michelle Bright, who was murdered 24 years ago while walking home from a friend’s birthday party, say the “monster” who killed her stole her dreams and tore them apart, and they left the NSW Central West town due to their endless pain and suspicion.
“My wish is to be able to hold her just one more time,” Michelle’s mother Loraine Bright told the NSW Supreme Court in Dubbo on Friday. “She was very special, my darling girl.”
Michelle Bright was murdered by Craig Rumsby in 1999.
Michelle, 17, vanished from Gulgong in the early hours of February 27, 1999. Her partially clothed body was found in long grass three days later.
Craig Henry Rumsby, 56, was found guilty by a jury in June of murdering Michelle and the attempted sexual assault of an 18-year-old woman about a year before the killing.
Michelle’s mother and brothers sobbed as they read their victim impact statements to the court. The Crown prosecutor read those from Michelle’s father and Rumsby’s surviving victim.
Loraine Bright said they wore purple and yellow in memory of her daughter who was her “greatest joy” and a bubbly, fun-loving girl who had a menagerie of animals and loved her family and friends.
“All her dreams were stolen, shattered,” she said.
Michelle Bright’s mother Loraine, pictured in 2014, stands at a roadside memorial for her daughter.Credit: Ben Rushton
She said the family had to leave Gulgong a year after Michelle’s murder as it was “too painful to keep driving past” the spot where she was killed and “too hard to see” different men at the RSL where she worked, as she would wonder: “Was it you?”
Loraine Bright said her marriage did not survive the pain, and she experiences “unending grief”.
“I can never have the one thing I want: my daughter back with me.”
Greg Bright said his precious daughter was “murdered by a monster”.
“You treated my daughter as if she was nothing ... disposed like a piece of rubbish,” he said to Rumsby.
“There is no punishment that you could receive that will ever compare to the pain you have caused our family. It terrifies me that you have such disregard for human lives.”
Phil Bright said his sister was “violently stolen” and he had been unable to return to Gulgong and Mudgee as he was “suspicious of everyone and everything”.
“Craig Rumsby stole my sister’s future,” he said. “For 24 years, I watched my family suffer.”
Les Bright said they never gave up fighting to catch his sister’s killer, and they finally have justice.
Rumsby’s surviving victim, who cannot be identified, said she had been “brutally attacked” in the dark and, with his hands gripped around her neck, had thought she was going to die.
She said she had reported it to police but dropped the case at the time “in fear of him returning to finish what he had started”.
Acting Justice Robert Allan Hulme acknowledged the bravery of those who authored statements, describing them as “dignified and eloquent descriptions of how these crimes have had such a terrible impact”.
“The loss that you have suffered and the pain that you have endured over so many years defies words that would describe its depths,” the judge said. “On my own behalf, and on behalf of the court, I convey the most sincere condolences to you all.”
Rumsby was arrested in 2020. His trial heard he had admitted to both crimes while speaking to undercover police, but his lawyers argued the confessions were “simply not true”.
Crown prosecutor Lee Carr, SC, submitted that Rumsby had acted with an intention to kill.
“The offender saw and followed the deceased to an isolated spot,” Carr said.
“A 17-year-old is entitled to walk home – regardless of where home is – safely, not subject to this kind of behaviour.”
It was also revealed, by public defender Nicholas Broadbent, that Rumsby had been bashed twice in the past week while in custody. He submitted Rumsby has ongoing health issues and a shorter than average life expectancy.
Rumsby is expected to be sentenced on Monday.
With Georgina Mitchell
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