Michelle Bright's murderer sentenced to 32 years in jail

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The family of a high school girl murdered in 1999 in NSW's central west say only now can they really begin grieving. The 56-year-old man convicted of killing Michelle Bright has been sentenced to 32 years in prison.

Transcript

00:00 It's taken more than two decades but the family of Michelle Bright left court today

00:07 feeling justice had been served.

00:09 We've never ever given up hope that this would be our sentence, not the right sentence for

00:14 him.

00:14 Her family cheered as Craig Rumsby was sentenced to 32 years in jail with 24 years non-parole.

00:20 It's the happiest day of my life because I got what I wanted.

00:24 The 17-year-old vanished while walking home after attending a friend's birthday party

00:29 at Golgong in the early hours of February 27, 1999.

00:34 Three days later, her partially naked body was found in long grass next to train tracks

00:38 less than a kilometre from her home.

00:41 Rumsby was arrested in Mudgie after confessing to undercover police in 2020.

00:45 I'm not saying nothing. I'm not a double representative.

00:50 In June, a jury found Rumsby guilty of murder following a seven-week trial in Dubbo.

00:55 Rumsby was also found guilty of choking another 18-year-old girl intending to sexually assault

01:00 her almost a year earlier in the same town.

01:03 Michelle's family delivered powerful victim impact statements in court on Friday.

01:08 Dressed in the teenager's favourite colours, purple and yellow, they told Rumsby what he

01:13 had stolen from them.

01:15 Justice Robert Alan Hume said both attacks were sexually motivated but Michelle's murder

01:19 would have been horrific and terrifying.

01:21 I think I speak for everybody when I say that we all hope that he runs to hell.

01:26 Maybe now we can try to start our grieving processes. We might be able to have a bit

01:32 of a life.

01:34 A long wait for justice finally served for a grieving family.

01:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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