Michelle Bright's friends give evidence of murdered teenager's final night

Now 24 years later, Craig Henry Rumsby, 56, is on trial in the Supreme Court in Dubbo having pleaded not guilty to murdering the 17-year-old Year 11 student, and attempting to choke or strangle with intent to commit an indictable offence in relation to an earlier alleged attack on another teenage girl in Gulgong.

The trial is continuing for its fifth day on Tuesday, May 2, and in addition to Michelle's family, several of her friends took the stand to be cross examined on Monday.

They spoke about how Michelle had gone out searching for her best friend, who had worked late, and how her best friend was looking for her at the same time, in an era when no teenagers had a mobile phone.

Crown prosecutor Lee Carr SC (Senior Counsel) led each of the friends through their actions on the night based on previous statements and interviews.

Michelle's best friend Lauren Ryan, who Michelle was going to stay with on the night she disappeared, was the first of the friends to give evidence.

The jury was told that the girls, along with about 70 other teenagers from the Gulgong area, were planning to attend a friend's birthday party on February 26, 1999.

Michelle lived out of town on Barneys Reef Road and was going to stay at Ms Ryan's house in town, like she did on many weekends.

"She was always going to stay at my house," Ms Ryan said.

As well as attending school with Michelle, Ms Ryan also did babysitting work. On the night of the party she had a job with a new client.

"I was reluctant at the time," Ms Ryan said, but added she changed her mind due to the possibility of more ongoing work with the client.

The job was to last until midnight, after which time Ms Ryan planned to join Michelle at the party.

But the babysitting job finished late, with phone records from the client's house phone indicating she called her mother at 1.19am to be picked up.

She was dropped off at the party at 1.30am but Michelle wasn't there.

When Ms Ryan arrived at the party she was told Michelle had left with a friend, Ben Howard, who had been doing laps of the town in his maroon hatchback with various other teenagers all night.

Ms Ryan stayed at the party for about 45 minutes before leaving with another friend and they walked to Coronation Park, which had a pay phone.

At the time none of the teenagers had mobile phones and Ms Ryan said usually when Michelle wanted to go home she would call her house on a landline, or if her mother was at work she would go to her mother's workplace, the Gulgong RSL, to get a lift.

The jury was told the idea to wait in the park was in the hope that either Michelle or Mr Howard would meet them there. But Mr Howard was alone, having just dropped off another friend, Faye-Maree Hollingsworth when he pulled up.

He stopped to talk with Ms Ryan's friend Averil Carlisle but he had to leave so he could get changed for work as he was an apprentice baker and was due to start work at 3am.

Ms Ryan and Ms Carlisle then walked to Ms Ryan's house and although Ms Ryan said Michelle would have been welcome there, even if she wasn't home, Michelle had not come to the house.

"You didn't see Michelle at all that night," Mr Carr said, which Ms Ryan confirmed.

Ms Ryan also said Michelle wasn't in conflict with anyone at the time she disappeared and she got on well with her parents and brothers.

Ms Ryan's statements were supported when Ms Carlisle also gave evidence.

The jury was told how Michelle had also gone out looking for Ms Ryan when she was late to arrive at the party.

She went in Mr Howard's car, with Faye-Maree who now goes by the surname Genovezos, to search for Ms Ryan, who she said would be walking to the party from her babysitting job.

Mr Howard gave evidence saying Michelle indicated she would go home after searching for Ms Ryan and it was known her mother worked at the RSL in Herbert Street.

"I also offered her a ride home and she declined that," he said.

Mr Howard said he had to offer to take her home then because he had to be at work by 3am.

Mr Howard said Michelle asked to be let out of the car outside the Commercial Hotel, on the corner of Mayne and Herbert Street in the early hours on February 27, 1999, and he saw her take a few steps towards Herbert Street before he drove away.

"She didn't really seem to want to stay out that night, which I thought was really weird for anyone in the town at the time," Mr Howard said.

He was also asked about a previous statement in which he saw a group of people sitting on the nearby bank steps, whose names were read out in court.

"I can't remember right now but if that's what I said at the time ..." Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard also confirmed Mr Carr's statement that after dropping Michelle off he and Mrs Genovezos went to Flirtation Hill for about half an hour to an hour before he dropped her off and went to the park where he spoke with Ms Carlisle.

The jury was also told Mr Howard did go to work at 3am, with his uncle, but had to wait a little while for his boss to arrive and several people from the party came in a bit later to buy pies.

Mr Carr said, at the time, rumours swept the Gulgong community but it was determined Mr Howard "had nothing to do with the death of Michelle Bright".

Mrs Genovezos also confirmed she was in the front seat of Mr Howard's car when Michelle was being driven around.

She described how she had to get out of the two-door car first so Michelle could get out of the back seat outside the Commercial Hotel but she didn't watch her walk away.

When questioned by defence barrister Nicholas Broadbent she said she gave Michelle a cuddle and said "see you tomorrow". She said she then got back into the car with Mr Howard and they drove around before going up to Flirtation Hill to talk for a while.

That was the last time any of Michelle's friends saw her and following an extensive search her body was found several days later in long grass beside the road leading to her home.

The trial is continuing.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.