The murder of Janine Balding was the killing of a woman in New South Wales, Australia by multiple perpetrators. Twenty-year-old Janine Balding was raped and murdered by a gang of five youths on 8 September 1988.
Balding's murder is often compared to the 1986 murder of Sydney nurse Anita Cobby.
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Janine Balding was born on 6 October 1967 and lived in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales before moving to Sydney and gaining employment as a bank teller at a branch of the State Bank on George Street. She was due to marry boyfriend Steven Moran in March 1989. The couple had purchased a house in Berkeley Vale and were renting their house to help finance their wedding arrangements.[1]
Balding was abducted from Sutherland railway station by a group of homeless youths, consisting of four males, and one female.[2] She was repeatedly raped by three of the male offenders, bludgeoned, then hog-tied and drowned in a dam at Minchinbury.[3]
In sentencing the defendants, Justice [Newman] said:
In 2007, Elliott and another defendant (presumably Blessington, but identified only as "B" due to his age) were granted an additional appeal based on a missing staple in their files. Essentially, it was argued, because the Crown indictment was not stapled to the court file, it was not "fixed" to the court file as required by law and the judgement was therefore not technically finalised.[6] The High Court of Australia subsequently rejected this ground of appeal.[7]
| Defendant | From | Convictions | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen 'Shorty' Jamieson | Murder | Sentenced to life imprisonment plus 25 years | |
| Matthew Elliott | Murder | Sentenced to life imprisonment plus 25 years | |
| Bronson Blessington | Murder | Sentenced to life imprisonment plus 25 years | |
| Wayne Wilmot | Accessory to murder | Sentenced to nine years four months imprisonment (later extended by six months for escaping lawful custody; served 7½ years before being paroled; currently incarcerated for multiple parole violations) | |
| Carol Arrow | Accessory to murder | Sentenced to 3-year good behaviour bond plus the nineteen months of time served in prison |
In 2003, the NSW Innocence Project (a joint project by the NSW Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Privacy Commissioner) used the latest DNA techniques to review the DNA evidence of the crime. This was done because Stephen 'Shorty' Jamieson denied taking part in the murder, and one of the murderers had claimed that it was 'Shorty' Wells (rather than 'Shorty' Jamieson) who had committed the murder.
The DNA results demonstrated that Stephen Jamieson's DNA was not found in a rectal swab of the victim, and neither was the DNA of 'Shorty' Wells. Police Minister John Watkins announced that the NSW Innocence Project would be suspended.[8] Subsequently, accomplice Carol Arrow stated that 'Shorty' Jamieson was one of the murderers.[9][10]