The Hiking Trip by Jenny Blackhurst

Author:Jenny Blackhurst
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Ltd
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Eight

October 2000

I THOUGHT I WAS NEXT

Sunday Echo

Maisie Goodwin, the friend of missing British backpacker Seraphine Cunningham, has told how she feared for her life after seeing her friend attacked by a male assailant on the West Coast Trail in Vancouver. ‘I was certain that he’d seen me, and that he was coming for me next,’ she told Martin Gerant of The Daily Globe in her first news interview since the attack. ‘I was hysterical, a mess. The media cast doubt on holes in my story, but I was in shock.’

Her testimony led to the conviction of fellow hiker, Mitchell Dyke. Of Dyke, Goodwin says, ‘He had been pestering Seraphine all night. I guess he didn’t want to take no for an answer.’

Earlier this week, Dyke was found guilty of the kidnap and murder of Seraphine and sentenced to thirty years in prison, despite no body ever being found.

No-body convictions have been extremely rare in Canadian courts, however earlier this year, Timothy Culham was convicted of first-degree murder after the disappearance of 72-year-old Hugh Sinclair where no body could be found. Sceptics wonder if these two high-profile cases could set a precedent for convictions where there is no absolute proof of death.

Speaking out after the trial, one of the jurors said that the testimony of Goodwin was ‘utterly compelling’ and coupled with Dyke’s confession that he had intercourse with the attractive victim immediately before her disappearance made it easy for the jury to convict.

Goodwin welcomes the result. Speaking of the scepticism with which her story was treated by the media and some of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), she said: ‘I have spent the last year living with media intrusions into my life, to devastating effect. I thought I would be killed that night, and people wanted to doubt me because they wanted a news story. Thanks to the verdict, I can now try to move on with my life.’

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