WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT
Every day for 36 years, David Balding’s life has been consumed by the death of his 20-year-old sister.
He was only 10 years old when his father told him: “Your sister was murdered…”
Janine Balding was abducted from the car park of Southerland train station in Sydney’s south by a group of homeless youths as she walked home from work in 1988.
For the rest of his life, Mr. Balding found comfort in knowing his killers. are behind bars, bbut now everything could change.
Earlier this month, lawyer and former politician Peter Breen called for an investigation into Stephen “Shorty” Jamieson, who was convicted in 1990 of raping and killing Ms Balding.
Mr Balding found comfort knowing his killers are behind bars, but now that could all change
The judge said he and others directly involved should “never be released,” but Jamieson requested a series of orders in a proceeding against the state attorney general during a recent hearing in the Supreme Court in Sydney.
His long-time supporter Mr Breen told the court another man nicknamed “Shorty” was known in the area at the time and wore a bandana similar to the one found at the crime scene.
It is understood Mr Breen argues DNA testing carried out on this bandana could cast doubt on his client’s beliefs.
Written submissions from the Attorney General are due May 8 in response to Jamieson’s request for an investigation.
The case will return to court on May 13.
Mr. Balding is angry and upset that these claims are coming back after all these years.
“It’s hard to deal with over and over again, but someone has to be Janine’s voice and that person is me,” he told news.com.au.
“The sentencing judge said it was recommended that he never be released for life, and that’s exactly how it should be.”
Mr Balding believes the bandana allegation is irrelevant, saying several witnesses agreed Jamieson was the right person.
Wayne Wilmot, 51, who was present that evening but did not physically participate in the crime, received a lighter sentence.
The “serial sex offender” is incarcerated at the Long Bay Correctional Complex in a maximum security facility, serving sentences for sexual assault and kidnapping, unrelated to Ms Balding’s case.
He spent three decades behind bars, except for 20 months in the late 1990s when he committed multiple violent assaults and sexual offenses against women.
Wilmot remained in custody under continuing detention orders but will be released in just a few weeks under an interim supervision order made by Justice Helen Wilson in the NSW Supreme Court.
He was considered by the judge to have “psychopathic personality traits, lacking concern or empathy for others and continuing to deny or downplay his troubling history of sexual offending”, in an assessment report carried out by a psychologist from November 2023 High Risk Offender Team
The exact date of his release and location cannot be released due to a court order.
“Why don’t we take a Sheila and rape her?” » are the nine chilling words spoken the night Mrs Balding (pictured) was murdered
Mr Balding then explained how difficult it had been to watch these “so-called boys” try to get out of prison, saying that was where they should die.
“Why don’t we take a Sheila and rape her?” » are the nine chilling words that were spoken the night Ms Balding was murdered.
On the morning of September 8, 1988, she parked her car at Sutherland Station in Sydney, before heading into town for work.
She was returning to her car that evening when a pack – Stephen ‘Shorty’ Jamieson, 22, Matthew Elliot, 16, Wayne Wilmot, 15, Bronson Blessington, 14, and Carol Arrow, 15 – approached her with the worst intentions.
They distracted Mrs. Balding by asking her the time and if she had any money or cigarettes. One of the youths pulled out a knife and threatened to “cut her face off” if she didn’t do exactly as he asked.
After snatching her car keys, she was forced into the back of her own car where she was beaten and raped at knifepoint in the back of her hijacked vehicle.
Any hope the young woman had of being released was dashed after one of the youths said: “I think it’s a good night for a murder…”
The group stopped on the M4.
They dragged the terrified woman from the car, the pack gagged Janine with a scarf and tied her up, before pulling her to the ground and throwing her over a fence.
Elliot, Blessington and Jamieson transported her to a nearby dam, where they drowned her and stole her jewelry and bank cards.
The pack left Ms Balding’s body there and got back into their car, which broke down shortly afterwards.
After walking to Mount Druitt, they sold the jewelry and withdrew cash using her bank cards, before boarding a train back to town.
The next day, Blessington and Elliot took a train to East Gosford where they threw his bank cards in the bushes before stealing another car and driving to a youth center.
They confessed to the police to stealing the car and suggested he knew where Ms Balding’s body was.
Ms Balding’s parents, Beverley and Kerry, reported her missing.
All five members of the group were charged and brought to trial for the murder of Janine Balding.
Elliott, Blessington and Jamieson were each sentenced to life plus 25 years.
Blessington, who was just 14 at the time, became the youngest person to be sentenced to life in Australia.
The judge in the case called their crimes “barbaric” and said they should “never be released.”
Lighter sentences were given to Wilmot and Arrow, after it was discovered that they had not physically participated in the murder.
Looking back, Mr Balding said his sister was kind, loving, fun and always had time for him even though she lived in Sydney.
Looking back, Mr Balding said his sister was kind, loving, fun and always had time for him even though she lived in Sydney.
He said he knew “something was wrong” the day she was killed, although he didn’t really understand what was happening at the time.
He remembers seeing his mother “crying and crying” and just knowing that “Janine was gone.”
Mr. Balding remembers seeing his killers in the courtroom after his sister’s murder.
He said he still remembers how they “didn’t really care” about what they did and how he helped his mother with the seemingly endless calls as he was getting older.
“It was important that Janine was and always will be represented and always have a voice to let people know that she is not forgotten and that her killers will never be forgiven,” he said.
In October 2013, Beverley died after a short stay in hospital.
In March 2022, Kerry also died in hospital.
The couple are buried next to their daughter at Wagga Wagga Lawn Cemetery.
Please seek assistance by contacting Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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