Family members have sobbed while telling a judge of the nightmare they have suffered since teenager Jodie Fesus was murdered at Shellharbour and buried at a Gerroa beach by her husband 20 years ago.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
While her sister Tracey Smith said she wanted to remember the good times, ‘‘all I can see is him choking her out, putting her in the family car and burying her like a discarded rag’’.
Six victim impact statements were read out in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday at the sentence hearing of Steve Frank Fesus, now 47.
He was found guilty in October of murdering his 18-year-old wife in August 1997 at their Shellharbour home, before burying her body in a shallow grave at Seven Mile Beach, near Gerroa.
On September 14, 1997, an anonymous male rang police from a public phone giving directions to locate human remains at Gerroa.
Police then found the teenager’s body in a partially uncovered grave six weeks after her disappearance.
Ms Smith said she was so angry that the thoughts about her sister’s murder and burial ‘‘have been forced on me’’ instead of the good memories about Jodie, who is ‘‘missed and mourned by so many’’.
‘‘(Fesus) lied to the police and accused so many others of his violent act on Jodie that he did,’’ she said.
‘‘To know he was having affairs prior to, immediately after and prior to her body being found just goes to show Jodie’s life meant nothing to him.
‘‘To this day, she had difficulties in relationships with men and as soon as things get heated ’I get out because I don’t want to be the next one murdered’,’’ Ms Smith said.
Gay Williams said her daughter’s death was a ‘‘mother’s worst nightmare’’ involving a man Jodie trusted taking her life.
In the six weeks between her disappearance and the discovery of her daughter’s body, Ms Williams said she suspected her son-in-law but ‘‘my own family thought I had gone crazy’’.
Roland Smith said for 20 years Fesus had denied murdering his daughter.
‘‘When he married her, he said ’don’t worry I will look after her’.’’
The hearing continues.
AAP
