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Australian Story Season 30 Episode 36
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FunTranscript
00:00Hello.
00:17Twenty years ago, 18-year-old Lauren Huxley was brutally beaten in her family home in Sydney
00:24by a random intruder.
00:26She was given almost no chance of survival, but inspired countless Australians with her determined recovery.
00:33The physical and emotional scars still run deep.
00:37So how do Lauren and her family cope knowing the perpetrator will soon be eligible for release?
00:44Brush it out a bit, yeah?
00:47Yeah.
00:48It's always been a love of mine to make people look and feel good.
00:53It's a beauty about hair, it grows back, right?
00:55Yeah.
00:56What better way to do that with my sister?
00:59She's got little scars on her head and, you know, I try and fluff it up to hide things.
01:03Turn to me, please.
01:05Oh, you want to get my makeup?
01:08I can't believe it's been 20 years already.
01:11I know.
01:12Time has gone so far.
01:13Yeah, definitely.
01:14Slow but fast at the same time, I think.
01:17This was a terrible crime story.
01:19There's been a brutal crime in Sydney's west, a bashing which has left an 18-year-old girl clinging to life.
01:25Lauren Huxley was left to die in the garage of her Northmead home.
01:30Here's this innocent 18-year-old girl who's attacked by a brute, and somehow she survived.
01:36She survived with, obviously, her own courage and her own determination, but a family the like of which I've never come across.
01:43Do you remember when, back in the early days, when I used to always do your makeup to help cover up your scars?
01:51Yeah.
01:52Yeah.
01:53But now they're pretty amazing how much they've faded.
01:57I think if this didn't happen to Lauren, her life today would look different.
02:03She has permanent injuries that she will live with for the rest of her life, which she's taken with grace.
02:11You shouldn't be ashamed to show your scars.
02:14It shows what you've gone through.
02:17I've accepted all my scars and all my injuries, and I'm not self-conscious.
02:27Whoever I meet along the way, I don't want them to treat me any different to anyone else.
02:34Because, you know, I'm just like everyone else.
02:38You happy?
02:39Yeah.
02:40That'll cost you $200.
02:42My name's Christine Huxley.
02:57I just want to clarify what's happening with Robert Black Farmer.
03:01What is his conditions for parole next year?
03:04When I heard the monster might be released, it is a little bit of a concern and worry.
03:10What security do you have when he's out of jail?
03:15He nearly took my life.
03:17He nearly killed me.
03:19You know, it's been 20 years, but you don't really ever forget.
03:24You never get over it.
03:25What happens when he has shown no remorse?
03:29Farmer never admitted guilt.
03:32Never admitted having any role in the attack on Lauren at all.
03:38He's never explained why.
03:41If I was the parents, I'd be mortified.
03:44I'd think terribly about him getting out after what he had done to their daughter.
03:48But that's the system.
03:51He's a career criminal.
03:53He's been in jail many times.
03:56And now, here we go again.
04:06I'm two and a half, just over a year older than Lauren.
04:09She was my innocent little sister and I was always just there to protect her in any way I could from a very young age.
04:17Simone was always the one out there.
04:20And Lauren was more quieter and more reserved and sweet.
04:25And she was very conscientious of her work at school.
04:30I like school.
04:32And I love socialising with my friends.
04:38Lauren and I met when we first started Year 7.
04:42This is a really good one with Jen.
04:45I've got my arms around her.
04:49If we were going out anywhere, we'd always go to Lauren's house first.
04:52And we'd get dressed and we'd all get ready together.
04:55And then she would take like a million photos.
05:01We had so much fun.
05:02This photo, it was just before the incident.
05:09I actually vividly remember the day of Lauren's attack.
05:12I was going about my day as a hairdresser in a salon.
05:15Lauren had come home from TAFE on the bus around 2pm I think it was.
05:21I used to, you know, usually ring Lauren and make sure she was home and she was okay.
05:28But on that afternoon, I was really busy with clients so I really didn't get a chance.
05:40Around 4.35 I think it was, my phone was ringing out the back of the salon.
05:47And I ran to answer it and I missed it.
05:54I get a phone call from next door, Joyce it was, she said your house is on fire.
06:15That day stuck with me for the last 20 years.
06:28It'll stick with me for the rest of my life.
06:32It was a hot day and over the police radio, we get a call for a house fire.
06:40There was black smoke billowing out of the top of the roof.
06:52Apparently the fire's in the kitchen and as far as they're aware radio, there's nobody home.
06:59I was sort of drawn towards the back of the property and for whatever reason,
07:04things didn't add up like there's no one home, there's a fire.
07:08There was some clothes on the washing line and there was some clothes in the basket.
07:15As soon as I pushed that garage door open, the heat and the strong smell of petrol really was quite overwhelming.
07:22Camera 1-4 only, go ahead.
07:24There was petrol like everywhere, she was covered in it, she was soaked in it.
07:29Right, I've got a female bleeding in the garage here, breathing.
07:33Lauren was laying there, I get towards her, she's gasping for air.
07:40She's got blood all over her face and all over her top.
07:43A couple of really, really deep cuts I would put on the top of her head.
07:48Copy, we'll get Amber, it's on the way, about an age.
07:51Possibly 20, early 20s.
07:53Only really the people that were involved would truly appreciate just how extreme the violence was.
08:01Her injuries were so, so extensive, so critical that I think it's fair to say that minutes mattered.
08:10Sydney police say they're treating the violent assault of a teenage girl in her home as attempted murder.
08:16I just collapsed and, you know, you just go into deep shock.
08:22I just couldn't believe it.
08:24It was just like a bad dream.
08:27We arrived at the emergency and then I saw Chris.
08:31I just remember her crying out like, Laurence, she's been attacked, she's been attacked.
08:38We were in the waiting room, had no idea what was going on, how bad she was, how injured she was or anything like that.
08:45And we were all in complete shock.
08:51The first night I thought the brain injury was too much and she wouldn't survive.
09:02There was more than 50 fractures in her skull and face.
09:09I only gave her a 5% chance of surviving.
09:15The hospital staff had to prepare Chris, Pat and Simone that what they were about to see would be very, very traumatic for them.
09:26They basically said you need to come and say goodbye to her because she will not make it through the night.
09:30And I just screamed in disbelief.
09:36They begged me to go in.
09:38And I said no.
09:40I said if my sister dies, I want to remember her how she was this morning.
09:44That's terrible.
09:45She was unrecognisable.
09:46She had her face is like swollen.
09:47Her face was out here.
09:48Her whole head was, you know, bashed in.
09:50Put your finger there.
09:51And that much of your nose.
09:52That's all she had but her face was all out here.
09:53Yeah, it was all swollen and it was just horrible.
09:58And then she had all burned like petrol marks on her legs and her arms.
10:11Yeah, all I prayed for was don't come to me.
10:24And asked me to turn it off.
10:25Yeah, all I prayed for was, don't come to me and ask me to turn it off.
10:37Yeah, yeah.
10:38But we weren't going to do that, Pat.
10:40I know.
10:41We weren't going to do that.
10:48We all stood around in a circle and we all said the Lord's Prayer.
10:55Then I collapsed and then my dad went down and my poor mum had to keep it together with Lauren upstairs being operated on and my dad and I in an emergency next to each other in beds on drips because we were clearly in shock.
11:11There were like three days of whether she's going to make it or not and they were the longest three days of our life.
11:18She is the most beautiful girl, so innocent and she is never confrontational.
11:30We are at a complete loss as to why anyone would hurt her.
11:35So we had to put, obviously, it out there to get as many leads as the police could so they could do their investigation properly.
11:47She is a very popular girl, but we certainly have no leads that would indicate who has committed this crime.
11:56This crime scene had a real level of complexity about it.
12:08We didn't know whether we were dealing with one offender or more.
12:11We didn't know where they were.
12:13I think they interviewed a lot of people who knew Lauren and they were doing it thoroughly and they were working around the clock 24-7.
12:24They did not stop.
12:26We had to wrap a pretty tight ring of security around Lauren from a police perspective because of that ongoing threat until we identified who it was and got them into custody.
12:37We were kind of living in fear at that point in time because we didn't know why or what was the motivation behind this.
12:47You were looking around at everybody and anyone.
12:50Who could do this?
12:51This is someone we knew.
12:53The fear we had was incredible.
12:59I was constantly, constantly having panic attacks, anxiety attacks.
13:04I was in fear looking over my shoulder.
13:09Lauren was in a coma for 23 days.
13:12So we had to be with her all the time.
13:15Just so that she knew there was someone around her.
13:18They say your ears can always hear.
13:22So we just talked positive to her, encourage her.
13:28Those early days, it was horrific.
13:31At any moment we had in the back of our mind that she could die.
13:37But at the front of our mind was she's not going to die.
13:40Your tea's ready, Loz, when you're ready.
13:43As we didn't know what her future was going to be, I said to my dad, she needs to be christened.
13:52We got the priest in and she got baptised.
13:58He blessed her and put the cross to the water.
14:02And her whole body just moved her arms and legs.
14:05And everyone went, ah, and they were looking, oh my God.
14:12It was just a miracle.
14:14I just couldn't believe it.
14:17I got just burst into tears.
14:20Because I thought my sister's coming back.
14:22She's going to make it.
14:24Loz?
14:25You alright?
14:26Righto then.
14:27Off we go.
14:28The breakthrough came late on a Friday afternoon.
14:45And it was a DNA hit off the fuel tin lid that had been recovered from the scene.
14:51That DNA profile was identified as being consistent with a person named Robert Black Farmer.
15:00Farmer was known to police for crimes of violence.
15:04He had spent time in prison.
15:06He was on bail at the time.
15:10We were knocking on the doors of anybody and everybody who had ever come in contact with Farmer.
15:15Several days later he turned up unannounced on the doorstep of a friend.
15:23He made a comment around the fact that he'd done something really stupid.
15:33The day I got the call and I said, I'm not going to answer this.
15:36It's just, I've had a hard enough day as it is.
15:39And anyway I said, I'll bugger it.
15:40I'll take it.
15:41I'll afflict it.
15:42And he said, we've got the bastard.
15:44And I said, oh mate.
15:45You beauty.
15:46After a three week manhunt, police have made an arrest in the case of Lauren Huxley.
15:51The Sydney teenager bashed and left for dead in her home.
15:54Police took a 36 year old man into custody last night.
15:57Barefoot and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, he appeared in court charged with five offences,
16:03including grievous bodily harm with intent to murder.
16:06It was such a relief, such a relief.
16:10The fact that they got him when they did, as quick as they could, it meant that we could
16:16then focus on Lauren completely.
16:18When I came out of the coma, I had three months post-traumatic amnesia.
16:33Jaws closing.
16:34My first memory was around Simone's birthday.
16:40I couldn't eat any cake because I was still being tube fed and they wouldn't allow me to
16:46eat any, which was so annoying for me because I love food and I love eating.
16:53This train will stop at Mario.
16:57She really struggled in the beginning.
16:59Things that you take for granted that are really simple to do, like swallowing.
17:04She really had to learn and teach her brain how to do those things again.
17:12It was like seeing a baby all over, doing the small things in life and then challenging
17:18myself for the major things.
17:21I found these things.
17:23Right.
17:24More pictures?
17:25Pictures.
17:26There's newspaper articles, but I found...
17:30Oh, the diary.
17:31This diary.
17:32Dad would always sit down and he'd journal what day it was, what she was doing.
17:38The little things were like big things for us.
17:41The 10th of December, Lauren is becoming more aware of her hair and started getting upset
17:47and letting out cries.
17:50She looks with fear in her face.
17:53She was out of intensive care and she's gone to the brain unit now.
17:57I'm in a room with doctors.
17:58I said, look, just stop there, please.
18:00I know what I've got.
18:02I've got a baby in arms.
18:03I said, I've got to take care of it to the end.
18:06And I said, you make her live, we'll do the rest.
18:10And we did.
18:12No, we did.
18:13Yeah, we got through it all right.
18:16I've done dozens of stories over the years about families who basically look after a loved one
18:26who's been badly damaged, but this is exceptional.
18:31Many people say to us that families can be torn apart by such tragedy.
18:35The trauma that we were going through and the fear of the unknown of what was going to happen to Lauren.
18:44It consumed me in particular.
18:45And I started to drink, to numb my pain.
18:48I, you know, mum and dad couldn't deal with me and I was breaking.
18:52Oh my gosh, remember this, dad?
18:55Oh, Christmas?
18:56Yeah, the stress and tension got a bit too much for us, didn't it?
18:59Oh, yeah.
19:00We all end up in this massive argument.
19:02No.
19:03It was, we were all crying in our corners and eating our Christmas lunch separately.
19:07I said, you know, all I want for Christmas is for Lauren to say, I love you mum.
19:13And she walked into the room and she's laying there and she opened her eyes.
19:20She recognised us.
19:22And she said, mum, I love you.
19:29It was just, it was the moment that I know I had my daughter back.
19:41When I first met Pat and Christine, they were shattered, they were broken.
19:45They were the quintessential Aussie family.
19:49I'd actually said to my wife, I would love to document this person's recovery.
19:54But I do remember how unstable she was on her feet that first couple of times that we went into that room.
20:00Yeah.
20:01It was incredibly intimate, wasn't it?
20:03That's right.
20:04I've never felt more like an intruder.
20:07It was a privilege to be there and to see some of the struggles, the real struggles.
20:12The girl I met the first day was childlike.
20:16Being helped to get out of a bed, being helped to sit in a wheelchair, being helped to walk.
20:21That was really, really quite hard to watch.
20:24By the end of January, she was taking her steps.
20:26And she walked past us with the physio and I went, oh my goodness, that was amazing.
20:32There are quite a few pictures there where she's walking where you can see she's kind of lost.
20:36Like, why are all these people around me?
20:39What's going on?
20:40Why is someone holding me?
20:42But she had an inner strength that meant she fought through all of that.
20:46I love exercise, you know, to keep fit and tone my muscles and my balance.
21:01I was in a wheelchair and I remember even just walking up and down stairs.
21:07It was a lot for my body to do.
21:11As I had to learn how to talk, walk and eat at the age of 19, it was so hard going through it all.
21:19When the investigation was initiated, the most critical witness was obviously in a fight for her life.
21:25And we knew that it was going to be some time before we could talk to Lauren.
21:33The first time that I engaged with her was over four months afterwards.
21:38You know, when we spoke to Lauren, we didn't know what we were going to get.
21:44As it turned out, Lauren had no memory whatsoever of what had happened to her.
21:49I then sat down and told Lauren what had happened.
21:56Lauren was confronted in the house by the offender.
22:00There was certainly evidence of some significant struggle inside the house.
22:08It's quite clear from the evidence at the scene that, you know, the real level of violence that was inflicted on Lauren occurred in the garage.
22:17She was attacked using a pair of fibro cutters.
22:21After the attack, she was doused in fuel.
22:26The offender has gone about a relatively elaborate way of trying to burn the crime scene down, burn the house down and ultimately kill Lauren by leaving her in the fire.
22:39One of those moments of luck that you have sometimes is that the fire went straight into the roof cavity.
22:50I was in shock. I couldn't believe it.
22:53I'm thankful for that I don't remember that traumatic experience because it would, you know, I definitely wouldn't want to ever go back there.
23:03The farmer's true motive was never, ever identified. He's never spoken to us. And that will always be a really troubling thing for the family.
23:15For two and a half years, they've all rebuilt Lauren's life. Mum, Dad and Simone have been a critical part of the rehab team.
23:25Oh, you won!
23:27I think each time she spoke and each time the family spoke to the media, it was part of their therapy.
23:33They needed to explain what had happened.
23:35When you saw Robert Farmer in the newspapers, did you recognise him?
23:40No, not at all.
23:42Are you sure that you'd never seen him before?
23:44Yep, he was just a complete stranger to me.
23:48A Sydney man has gone on trial over the brutal attack on teenager Lauren Huxley.
23:54From the time of the attack on Lauren, it was almost two and a half years before the matter finally got to trial.
23:59We were in a position where we felt we had a really strong case.
24:06We had almost 300 witnesses in total.
24:11Lauren never came to the court case.
24:14We didn't feel the need for her to go there and have to really live that event because we didn't want anything to affect her constant healing.
24:23It was so tough being in the same room as Farmer. I just felt so sick just looking at him.
24:33The trial of Robert Farmer took six weeks, but the jury took just three hours to find him guilty of attempted murder.
24:40The day of the verdict, that was the big one.
24:43Lauren Huxley wasn't in court for the verdict. Her sister broke the news.
24:47I just said, hey Lauren, how are you going? It's guilty, guilty and guilty.
24:51As he was led from the dock, Pat Huxley yelled burn in hell at his daughter's attacker.
24:58On the day that he was sentenced, I said, well, it's time to bring Lauren along.
25:04I did go, but I didn't say a word.
25:08Because to tell you the truth, I didn't want the monster to know I was even there.
25:14We were pleased that he got the sentencing he did.
25:19Definitely a relief in that I could move on with my life.
25:27The sentence that he received was 24 and a half years with 20 years non-for-all.
25:35Will that ever be enough for my sister? For my family? No.
25:42He got 20 years essentially and Lauren and my family got life.
25:46Look, it was just a relief. I just think it was the end of our journey where we had that in the back of our minds all the time.
25:55It was freedom.
26:02Hey guys. Oh, hey Jen. How are you? I'm well, how are you?
26:08So good to see you. Yeah, you too.
26:11After the court case, life did return back to somewhat normality again.
26:17Oh, yeah. Or the new norm, I guess, that what our life now was.
26:23Thank you. Come through, ladies. Take a seat. Thank you so much.
26:28So Lauren and Simone went off to America and they had the time of their life.
26:36I was definitely excited, especially because I was 21 at that time and I was able to drink.
26:47I feel like I already know your order.
26:49Um, espresso martini I think.
26:53She makes the best of every moment that she can, when she can, but it has its challenges.
26:59She defied a lot of the odds. She, you know, learnt how to drive a car.
27:05She's got a job at the moment. She's just grateful that she can still have these opportunities just to live a somewhat normal life.
27:11With the job I've got now, I work in the city and I catch up with my friends for lunch or dinner or drinks after work.
27:25It's as normal as can be.
27:37You know, if he did apply for it, but he would let me know.
27:41As a family and Lauren is, you know, we're quite concerned about it at this point of time.
27:47He's coming up for parole next year in July, so he's going to be, um, assessed then.
27:56So they're just getting the ball rolling now so that we're informed and we can work it out from there to see if these,
28:03well, see what our rights are as well.
28:05That is always very confronting for victims and their families, particularly in situations where there has been no remorse.
28:16There's been no contrition.
28:18There's been no acknowledgement of the suffering.
28:22She doesn't like the fact that he'll be out again.
28:26And I think now she realises, you know, what happened and how much she had to suffer.
28:34I think she, she's very weary and quite worried that, you know, we might see him somewhere if he's, if he's around near our area.
28:44So at least I'm retired now, so I, I could be here all the time. Not like last time.
29:03Lauren's an amazing auntie. Our girls, they just adore her.
29:07They understand that something happened to their aunt, but they don't really comprehend it.
29:11Let's go on, please.
29:14Obviously one day they will know, unfortunately, the full extent of it.
29:18But in the meantime, we are protecting them as much as we can.
29:22And particularly from the PTSD that, you know, I struggle with.
29:27I try not to think about it at all.
29:30About my incident or even what I went through.
29:34Because I've simply just like moved on.
29:38I don't want to go back there.
29:39The pleasure in life is doing what people say you can't do.
29:46They were wrong.
29:50And I made it.
29:52Great passes, girls.
29:54I would love to eventually marry and possibly have kids if that happens.
29:58But, you know, let's just see what happens.
30:05I'm still here.
30:07Even with all my scars and my injuries.
30:11At least I'm able to do simple things in life.
30:13Oh, I've got it.
30:14I'm on a roll.
30:15There's nothing stopping me now.
30:17Bye.
30:18Oh, I've got it.
30:19I'm on a roll.
30:20There's nothing stopping me now.
30:24Bye.
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