A judge has described Craig Rumsby as brutal and callous while sentencing him to at least 24 years in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Michelle Bright in 1999.
Justice Robert Allan Hulme delivered the sentence in the NSW Supreme Court on Monday, receiving loud applause inside the court from the family of Bright.
Craig Rumsby, 56, was given a total of 32 years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 24 years, for the murder of Bright in February 1999, as well as choking with intent to sexually assault another 18-year-old girl in 1998, in the NSW central-west town of Gulgong.
Judge Hulme said Bright’s murder was “horrific and terrifying” as he laid out Rumsby’s sentence.
“Killing a person by suffocation or strangulation requires a significant amount of effort. It takes time,” he said.
“The perpetrator must realise the victim’s life is in their hands.”
“In this case, brutally and callously, the offender continued to progress until Ms Bright’s body was lifeless.
“This is a grave example of the crime of murder.”
Michelle Bright was just 17 years old when she was attacked by Rumsby as she was walking home from a friend’s birthday party in February 1999, the court heard.
Bright was reported missing until her body was found three days later amongst long grass on Barneys Reef Road, a mere two kilometres from her family’s home.
Bright’s mother, Lorraine Bright, said Michelle and her family have “got the justice we’ve wanted”.
“I am so glad he’s not going to come out and do this to somebody else,” Lorraine said outside the court after the sentencing.
“Maybe now we can try to start our grieving processes. We might be able to have a bit of a life.”
Initial investigations of Bright’s death led nowhere- despite police following thousands of leads and arresting a total of five suspects – and it became a cold case early on.
However, the case was reopened in 2019 as police went undercover to look further into two of the five suspects, one of them being Rumsby.
The officers posed as criminal associates in an eight-month undercover operation, until Rumsby eventually confessed in August 2020.
Although his defence team said his admissions to the undercover police were unreliable, Rumsby was found guilty in June this year.
He will be eligible for parole in 2044.