Janine Balding

Personal

Passions

Vocation

Traits

Family

Australian victim of kidnapping, gang rape and murder. Janine Balding was born in rural New South Wales where her father ran a joinery business and her mother was a home-maker. A blue-eyed blonde baby with a strong temperament, she was an active child and had to have elocution lessons because she was such a fast talker. A sporty teenager and more of a tomboy that her older sister, she played softball, joined the girl guides, learned ballet and tap-danced. A younger sister arrived when she was three and a brother when she was ten. Flipping hamburgers and later working in a newspaper shop, her ambitions were simply to get married and have a family. She was an attractive girl, left-handed, 52 kilos, 163cm, with long blonde hair. Janine moved from Wagga Wagga to Sydney in 1982, where she shared a flat with her sister and worked in the hardware section of a dept store. The completion of a typing course led to computer work in a bank. A gregarious young woman, she tried jet-skiing and horse-riding and attended rock concerts with her group of friends. In 1985 she met her boyfriend, Steve, a fireman who played cricket. They had a holiday in Fiji in September 1987. After their engagement on 4/16/1988, they bought a small house on the NSW Central Coast, planning to make it their home with a marriage date set for 3/18/1989. On 9/08/1988 at 5:45 PM, Janine was abducted at knife-point in a car park at a southern Sydney railway station, taken in her own car to a western suburb, brutally assaulted, orally- vaginally- and anally-raped, and finally drowned by three men known as the "Street Kids" gang. She died about 7:50 PM, having been thrown into a dam after being gagged and bound with rope in such a way that if she struggled she would drown herself more quickly. Four men (aged 14, 15, 16 and 22 at the time of the crime) and two women (both 17) were charged with her murder and various offences including abduction, carnal assault, sexual assault, and theft. One of the women was released after it was found that she was not present during Balding's two-hour ordeal. On 12/15/1989, the other woman, having taken part in Balding's abduction, was released from jail after pleading guilty to stealing her car, watch and credit card money. She had been petting with the 15 year-old at the time of Balding's rape and murder. He received seven years after the murder charge against him was dropped. On 9/11/1989, the three other men were sentenced to life in prison. On 5/08/1997 a NSW law was passed to ensure that they and other such brutal murderers will never be released. Link to Wikipedia biography