Lauren 4
Without Prejudice
That night was a blur, our family Doctor came and gave us enough sedatives for two days. After that he said we were better off dealing with the emotions. The like of which we would have never known. According to Roger Johnston our Doctor for 17 years, drowning was a peaceful death. There were so many questions and so many people and Bob made phone calls to our families. He was sobbing and said that we had "lost", Lauren and people actually thought we had somehow lost her.
No one believed she could have drowned, she was an excellent swimmer and had been at the school championships only months earlier.
It was madness, complete and utter madness and all the time I kept thinking,
"It's not her, it's not her"
The next day dawned and my brothers and sisters were already on planes from Brisbane. My youngest sister Helen had also just had a baby and he was just a few days old. David, George, Jackie,Helen and Ian my siblings took over the running of the house and the business. The police arrived and told us that Tanya had told them a story and they had questioned her for a long time and that she had seemed really believable. Apparently according to Tanya the girls had been at the pools until closing. They and some other kids were bouncing on the covers and had been told to leave. Tanya and Lauren had gone home and when Tanya's Dad went out the girls had a fight, Lauren walked to the phone box at 10 o clock at night. Tanya trailing her and Lauren supposedly rang me, told Tanya to go home and waited there on her won for me to pick her up.
"Impossible", I said.
The policeman assured me that Tanya's story seemed plausible and they were convinced she was telling the truth.
"Bullshit!", I said. "Lauren was scared of the dark and there was no way known she would wait in the dark on her own waiting for me"
This story ( as it turned out complete fabrication ) distressed us all completely. If it had been true how had Lauren ended up in the pool?. Did someone drag her there, attack her, rape her, our minds were boggled at the implications. But we all knew Lauren would not wait alone in the dark at a phone box, no matter what had happened.
The police agreed to go back and question Tanya further. And the true story came out. It took them three hours to get the truth out of Tanya but what really happened was this.
The two girls had been at the Noble Park Pool till closing. They had walked to Tanya's house only minutes away, had tea, watched a movie. Tnaya's Dad went out leaving the 2 12 year old's on their own. Bored a little later they decided to return to the pool in the darkness. Maybe t get in and have another swim. The chain wire mesh on the 6' fence hurt their bare feet as they tried to climb it, so they decided to see if they could find another way of getting in. Way around the back, the Noble Park Swimming Pool complex was huge, they found an entry point. A double gate used for Trade entry was kicked out on one side at the botton. It was pinned with a chain rope in the middle, but the right hand bottom leaf was splayed at the bottom, allowing entry when pushed for a child. We found out later the Council knew about this gate and knew kids were using it at night to gain entry to the pool.
It must have seemed scary to the girls, one security light far off near the kiosk was the only light. The girls scrambled through the gate and were in. The covers undulated quietly on the surface of the pool and the two girls decided to dive under them. They dived from one side of the pool to the other, under the covers, for a while. Then Lauren lost her way. She tried to hold the cover up and Tanya on the side could hear her but the voice was getting fainter.
Lauren, me and the girls had been to Bali earlier that year and there she earned herself the name the Otter. Dudley an old man who the girls and I had befriended had christened Lauren "Otter" as she was always in the massive pool. Her head would just appear from the water, her dark hair streaming down her back, her white teeth pulled back in a grin in her tanned face. She gleamed like a sea animal, completely at home in the water, diving and frolicking.
She would swim and swim and swim. The other girls, Deb, 19 and Alena 14 were not so keen, preferring to spend their time propped up at the swim up bar or sunbaking. A few nights we were there till midnight in the warm pool, listening to the radio and tape a couple of the boys from the village had fetched us. It was magical those nights. The Ocean was only metres away and we could hear the waves lapping the beach, while we sat listening to music and chatting, the warm breeze from the sea caressing our skin. Lauren would be with us but not, she would endlessly dive and come up, her fat bottom disappearing into the water and her head coming up again in a silent graceful arc. She was at one with the water, a natural Pisces, the fish.
So Lauren lost her way in the dark and Tanya, the only witness stayed at the side. She said the voice got fainter, Lauren was trying to hold the cover up with one hand and call out at the same time. Tanya told the police that she dived in and tried to save her and that there could have been two fatalities that night, but I didn't believe her. I no longer believed one word Tanya said, not after telling the original lie that Lauren and her had a fight and had taken off, Tanya trailling her.
Tanya then panicked when the faint voice stopped. Lauren must have drowned then. So Tanya ran home, across Heatherton Road, where a 24 hour 7/11 was, where she could have raised an alarm.Ran home, broke a window to get in and rang her Dad at the Pool Hall. And told him to come home.
When he did she told him the story of Lauren and her having a fight. Not that Lauren was in the pool. I know she was just a child of 12, as the coroner said, and confused but I can't forget that she never rang for help. I know now, Luren was already dead but to think of her lying alone in that pool all night is enough to kill me, as her Mum.
That night was a blur, our family Doctor came and gave us enough sedatives for two days. After that he said we were better off dealing with the emotions. The like of which we would have never known. According to Roger Johnston our Doctor for 17 years, drowning was a peaceful death. There were so many questions and so many people and Bob made phone calls to our families. He was sobbing and said that we had "lost", Lauren and people actually thought we had somehow lost her.
No one believed she could have drowned, she was an excellent swimmer and had been at the school championships only months earlier.
It was madness, complete and utter madness and all the time I kept thinking,
"It's not her, it's not her"
The next day dawned and my brothers and sisters were already on planes from Brisbane. My youngest sister Helen had also just had a baby and he was just a few days old. David, George, Jackie,Helen and Ian my siblings took over the running of the house and the business. The police arrived and told us that Tanya had told them a story and they had questioned her for a long time and that she had seemed really believable. Apparently according to Tanya the girls had been at the pools until closing. They and some other kids were bouncing on the covers and had been told to leave. Tanya and Lauren had gone home and when Tanya's Dad went out the girls had a fight, Lauren walked to the phone box at 10 o clock at night. Tanya trailing her and Lauren supposedly rang me, told Tanya to go home and waited there on her won for me to pick her up.
"Impossible", I said.
The policeman assured me that Tanya's story seemed plausible and they were convinced she was telling the truth.
"Bullshit!", I said. "Lauren was scared of the dark and there was no way known she would wait in the dark on her own waiting for me"
This story ( as it turned out complete fabrication ) distressed us all completely. If it had been true how had Lauren ended up in the pool?. Did someone drag her there, attack her, rape her, our minds were boggled at the implications. But we all knew Lauren would not wait alone in the dark at a phone box, no matter what had happened.
The police agreed to go back and question Tanya further. And the true story came out. It took them three hours to get the truth out of Tanya but what really happened was this.
The two girls had been at the Noble Park Pool till closing. They had walked to Tanya's house only minutes away, had tea, watched a movie. Tnaya's Dad went out leaving the 2 12 year old's on their own. Bored a little later they decided to return to the pool in the darkness. Maybe t get in and have another swim. The chain wire mesh on the 6' fence hurt their bare feet as they tried to climb it, so they decided to see if they could find another way of getting in. Way around the back, the Noble Park Swimming Pool complex was huge, they found an entry point. A double gate used for Trade entry was kicked out on one side at the botton. It was pinned with a chain rope in the middle, but the right hand bottom leaf was splayed at the bottom, allowing entry when pushed for a child. We found out later the Council knew about this gate and knew kids were using it at night to gain entry to the pool.
It must have seemed scary to the girls, one security light far off near the kiosk was the only light. The girls scrambled through the gate and were in. The covers undulated quietly on the surface of the pool and the two girls decided to dive under them. They dived from one side of the pool to the other, under the covers, for a while. Then Lauren lost her way. She tried to hold the cover up and Tanya on the side could hear her but the voice was getting fainter.
Lauren, me and the girls had been to Bali earlier that year and there she earned herself the name the Otter. Dudley an old man who the girls and I had befriended had christened Lauren "Otter" as she was always in the massive pool. Her head would just appear from the water, her dark hair streaming down her back, her white teeth pulled back in a grin in her tanned face. She gleamed like a sea animal, completely at home in the water, diving and frolicking.
She would swim and swim and swim. The other girls, Deb, 19 and Alena 14 were not so keen, preferring to spend their time propped up at the swim up bar or sunbaking. A few nights we were there till midnight in the warm pool, listening to the radio and tape a couple of the boys from the village had fetched us. It was magical those nights. The Ocean was only metres away and we could hear the waves lapping the beach, while we sat listening to music and chatting, the warm breeze from the sea caressing our skin. Lauren would be with us but not, she would endlessly dive and come up, her fat bottom disappearing into the water and her head coming up again in a silent graceful arc. She was at one with the water, a natural Pisces, the fish.
So Lauren lost her way in the dark and Tanya, the only witness stayed at the side. She said the voice got fainter, Lauren was trying to hold the cover up with one hand and call out at the same time. Tanya told the police that she dived in and tried to save her and that there could have been two fatalities that night, but I didn't believe her. I no longer believed one word Tanya said, not after telling the original lie that Lauren and her had a fight and had taken off, Tanya trailling her.
Tanya then panicked when the faint voice stopped. Lauren must have drowned then. So Tanya ran home, across Heatherton Road, where a 24 hour 7/11 was, where she could have raised an alarm.Ran home, broke a window to get in and rang her Dad at the Pool Hall. And told him to come home.
When he did she told him the story of Lauren and her having a fight. Not that Lauren was in the pool. I know she was just a child of 12, as the coroner said, and confused but I can't forget that she never rang for help. I know now, Luren was already dead but to think of her lying alone in that pool all night is enough to kill me, as her Mum.
