Little Girls Lost by Helen Reade

Author:Helen Reade
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-fiction, true crime, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Australian true crime, murder, homicide, Helen Reade, Paul B. Kidd, Nicole Hanns, Ebony Simpson, Lauren Barry, Nichole Collins, rape, sexual assault, stabbing, death, homicide victims, law reform, victim impact statements, pre-trial disclosure, Homicide Victims’ Support Group, Child Sex Offenders’ Register, CRIMTRACK database, DNA database, life sentences legislation, Andrew Garforth, John Lewthwaite, Leslie Alfred Camilleri, Lindsay Hoani Beckett
ISBN: 9781743004517
Publisher: Five Mile Press
Published: 2012-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

Delma Collins didn’t panic until she began the trip to Bega. After talking to Cheryl Barry, she and Graeme climbed into their 4WD and headed for the campsite at Evans Hill. It was an old, disused paddock at the end of a weatherworn dirt track. At times it was accessible to all cars, while at others, only to 4WDs. As it was only two kilometres from the main road, the girls would regularly ride their horses up through the banksia-laden bush until they reached a plateau of ferns. Just beyond that was the spot they would set up camp.

It had been Graeme Collins’s job to drive up the gear and help set up the tent and a fire. At the end of each camp he would pack away everything and ferry it home. At the beginning of this expedition, he had once again set up the big ‘circus tent’, as they called it, to face the water. Six metres in front had been the fire, and to the other side of that the makeshift paddock he had set up for the horses. At least ten kids had used the campsite over the weekend.

When Nichole’s parents arrived at the campsite that day, Rebecca, Malcolm and Sarah were the only ones there. None of them had seen the girls that morning. So Graeme decided to drive along the dirt track out to White Cliffs. Five kilometres past the campsite were a set of cliffs that descended to the sea, and at the base was a mass of rocks and frothy waves. He wanted to go there alone, or at least without his wife. Within 20 minutes of finding out the girls were gone, he had an uncanny feeling that they were dead. One of the kids had mentioned hearing a car going down the track and he had the urge to go and see if they had fallen or been pushed over the edge. There had been nothing there.

Back at camp again, the couple waited for the police to arrive and then headed for Nichole’s ex-boyfriend’s place. In the car, Delma felt like she was losing the plot. She looked at the school photo of Nichole the police had requested and wondered where her daughter was.

Cheryl Barry was also feeling the strain. In the kitchen at her home she had collapsed in tears. She had tried everywhere and there was no sign of Lauren. Having reported the girls’ disappearance to the police, she wasn’t sure where to turn next.

At the same time, on the outskirts of Kalaru, at the Collins’s home a note, taped to the back door, moved a little in the breeze. On it were the words: ‘Nichole, if you arrive home please call the police.’ A little further down the road, the neighbours kept watch for the 16-year-old. Their lounge room overlooked the street, so it was inevitable that, from their position, they would see her as she approached her home. She didn’t. Nor would she. Two young men, high on a cocktail of drugs and their lust for violent sex, had already seen to that.

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