Parents’ heartbreak
CAIRNS-based Coroner Nerida Wilson will hand down preliminary findings on Friday into the disappearance of Jayden Penno-Tompsett with his mother still pushing for it to be ruled as foul play.
The 22-year-old was on a drug-fuelled drive from Newcastle to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Cairns in 2017 when he had a fight with his travel buddy, Lucas Tattersall, and walked off into remote bushland near Charters Towers. He has never been seen again.
His parents, Rachel Penno and Brendan Tompsett, gave heartbreaking closing statements on the final day of his inquest in the Cairns Coroner’s Court on behalf of their son, whom they described as being kind, funny and loving.
Mr Tompsett called Jayden his “greatest achievement”. “This kid taught me to love when he was born,” he said. “I’ve stitched my heart together with tears every day so I can bleed out every night.
“That will never stop because there is no closure.
“I think we all know what happened, but you never stop having hope.”
Ms Penno said she “prayed this inquest brings the answers I’ve been searching for”.
“My only mission is to find Jay and bring him home to his loved ones,” she said.
“Losing Jay has been like a knife wound to the heart. My insides have been torn out.
“I don’t want people to forget he was a human being loved by many and given the opportunity he would have found his way.”
Despite a police investigation concluding Mr PennoTompsett likely perished in the Outback, Ms Penno’s barrister Alex Raeburn argued for a ruling of foul play as the cause of death given the lack of any evidence about his whereabouts.