Anita Cobby's sister speaks out following killer's death: "I did feel lost"
The sister of Anita Cobby has spoken up after one of the late nurse's murderers died in jail.
Michael Murphy, one of the five men found guilty of raping and murdering the 26-year-old nurse and beauty queen in 1986, died from liver cancer at Long Bay hospital on February 21.
Cobby was walking home from Blacktown station, Sydney in February 1986 when Murphy and the other men dragged her into a stolen car and took her to Prospect, where they raped her and slit her throat.
Cobby’s sister Kathryn Szyszka has opened up to A Current Affair about the heartache of losing her older sibling in an interview broadcast on Friday.
Tonight - no one's crying over the death of Michael Murphy. He was one of five men who raped and murdered Anita Cobby in 1986. Crime Editor Simon Bouda spoke Exclusively with Anita's younger sister...Kathryn. #9ACA | WATCH: https://t.co/skQ682nKlx pic.twitter.com/6smS241o0R
— A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) 22 February 2019
Szyszka was only 20 years old when Cobby died. "I think I was fairly lost," she said of the time following her older sister's death.
"She was my role model, I followed her, everything she did … Being so young and having her always leading the way for me, I did feel lost."
However, Szyszka was unfazed by Murphy's death in custody. "If I'm to be honest, actually, not a lot went through my mind because I haven’t given these criminals much time or thought over the years," she said.
On the other hand, Cobby's widower John said he hoped Murphy's death "was painful for him … One down, four to go."
Szyszka said she still feels Cobby's absence nevertheless. "The times I have missed with her, the very important times in life you share as a family … I miss just having her there to be a part of it, to share, to have someone to talk to, bounce things off, just things you do with family."
Szyszka said their parents, Grace and Garry Lynch, had "never" gotten over Cobby's death until their deaths in recent years. "I know mommy used to have sleepless nights," she said.
"I think any parent would understand the impact that it did have, the loss of a child in such a horrific way. They did suffer."
In June 1993, Grace and Garry created the Homicide Victims Support Group along with Christine and Peter Simpson, the parents of murdered nine-year-old Ebony Simpson. The group is currently working to establish Grace’s Place, a world-first trauma centre that is set to focus on children and young people who lost their loved ones to homicide.