WHEN Lauren Huxley woke on November 9, 2005, she was the quintessential 18-year-old; a young woman with a life of unlimited promise ahead of her.
Her day began in routine fashion, with her mother driving her to TAFE where she was studying marketing.
She participated in a group presentation, receiving a good mark for her efforts. It was a normal day.
After chatting with other students, Lauren made her way home on a bus from the campus to her family's home in the Sydney suburb of Northmead.
Once on board, she quietly took a seat, with a folder resting on the crook of her arm, looking out the window for the duration of the journey.
By that evening, Lauren was fighting for her life in Westmead Hospital's intensive care unit.
Her injuries were so severe her doctors did not expect her to survive.
She was found in the garage of the family's home, partly clothed and lying in a pool of her blood.
She had been so severely and repeatedly beaten around the face that she was unrecognisable; her body was soaked in petrol.
The emergency workers who responded to a call about a house fire in Moxhams Rd had their attention drawn to the garage by the barking of two family pets. They found two Maltese-shih tzu dogs, Buster and Abbey, standing guard.
The first police officer at the scene, Constable Danny Eid, told the NSW Supreme Court last month an overwhelming smell of petrol permeated the darkened room.
He saw the dogs, which retreated as he approached, and then a figure on the floor. Constable Eid wasn't even sure the shape was human. Then he heard Lauren's rasping breathing.
As she was rushed to hospital, the questions began. How, why and -- most importantly -- who, could have committed such a dreadful crime?
Her family and friends could offer investigators no clues, and there was no spurned ex-boyfriend or bitter foe hidden in her past.
"I can't understand how you could do that to anyone, but to do it to someone you don't even know? It's just so cruel," Lauren's sister, Simone, 24, said recently.
The callousness of the attack punctured Sydney's consciousness to an extent that few crimes do.
Public sentiment was of an overwhelming sense of injustice and outrage -- this shouldn't happen to anyone, let alone an innocent young woman with most of her life before her.
It was this mood that fuelled the extraordinary generosity of Lauren's local community, who set about organising an appeal to aid her recovery.
Within eight months Winston Hills Lions Club had raised $44,823 for the Lauren Huxley Trust Appeal.
"We raised more money for Lauren that year than for any other (cause)," says Lions treasurer Bob Seaward. It has been used to pay for "more personal" items for Lauren, including a new bed and car, clothing and make-up.
But as people handed over their hard-earned to a family in crisis, police were hard at work pursuing Lauren's attacker, a man she had never met.
Police spent two days at the Huxley home, fingerprinting every surface, seizing items for analysis and taking DNA swabs from key locations.
It was no easy task. Much evidence had been destroyed by fire, smoke and, ironically, also the water used by firefighters as they fought to extinguish the blazing three-bedroom home.
But laborious work ultimately unlocked the mystery facing police.
A DNA swab, taken from the lid of a lawnmower fuel tin kept by Patrick Huxley in the family garage, was analysed and returned a "cold hit".
Robert Black Farmer, whose DNA record was on the database because of his previous time in prison, came up as a 430 million-to-one match.
Three weeks after the sickening attack, Farmer was arrested.
Then a swab taken from a bed rail in Lauren's bedroom revealed an even stronger matching profile -- one in 10 billion people.
Farmer's careful attempts to destroy the crime scene had failed. By the time he was arrested at a friend's house in Bargo, in the NSW Southern Highlands, police were confident they had found their prime suspect.
Farmer lived with his mother just 1200 metres from the Huxley family home in Northmead.
He had been released from prison only months earlier. Having served at least five years in jail in the past, Farmer's life of crime had continued unabated after his release.
Returned to custody in 2004, he served another 18 months for firearms and weapons charges.
He was released in January 2005 and within nine months had committed yet another offence -- this time stealing petrol -- and was ready to do his worst.
Unfortunately for Lauren Huxley, she appeared to have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There have been many theories as to why Farmer chose Lauren as his prey. He could simply have been drawn to the beautiful, blonde young woman because of her good looks.
Others have suggested he was just opportunistic; that he saw a chance to break into the Huxley home and steal their belongings, only to find a young woman on her own.
During cross-examination, prosecutor Chris Maxwell, QC, suggested Farmer had found himself in a "situation that escalated out of control and you had to put a stop to it".
"She struggled with you, didn't she . . . but she got away from you, she ran into the garage . . . you were upset, you were concerned that she would get away and she would be able to identify you, then you would go back to jail," Mr Maxwell submitted.
Farmer's repeated response was "absolutely not", but the prosecutor's questioning appeared to unsettle him.
On that particular day of the six-week trial, Mr Maxwell continued to probe Farmer's cold facade, with the accused's top lip occasionally curling, offering a glimpse of a darker, but well-hidden, persona.
"You did everything you could to kill her, didn't you . . . and you did everything you could to cover it up," Mr Maxwell asked.
"Absolutely not," Farmer replied.
"You tipped petrol on her . . . around the house . . . you hoped (the fire) would destroy any evidence that would link you to that scene . . . but it wasn't destroyed, the house, was it, Mr Farmer? The reason you went back there (that night) was to have a look and see how successful you had been," Mr Maxwell continued.
"Absolutely not," was the reply.
"And you, sir, did those things to Lauren Huxley," was Mr Maxwell's final statement.
"Absolutely not."
Farmer maintained his innocence, and likely would "into ever", as he told the court during his evidence.
But, despite the chilling picture painted by the prosecution, it remains a motiveless crime. It is a question that will plague the Huxley family for the rest of their lives.
Lauren's father, Patrick, bristles with rage as he recalls the ordeal his youngest daughter has endured.
"It was like the lamb and the lion; she never stood a chance," he says. "He smashed her to a pulp, but he didn't even know her name."
In court, Lauren's family -- in particular her mother, Christine -- struggled to sit through the evidence as witnesses recalled what they saw in the initial aftermath of the attack.
Hardened onlookers winced as they heard how Farmer had "repeatedly beaten her about the face and skull", causing Lauren's left eye socket and parts of her face to be all but destroyed.
Even harder to stomach was the eerie crime scene video shown to the jury.
Officers had filmed every centimetre of the house, and the silent recording made for disturbing viewing.
This was like any suburban garage, jam-packed with storage boxes, sporting goods, garden tools, furniture and discarded computer equipment.
But as the camera zoomed in, it captured images of a most un-ordinary garage. There were puddles of blood on the concrete floor, with blood splattered across the adjacent wall.
Lauren was in intensive care for 23 days, requiring multiple organ system support for her life-threatening injuries.
What followed was her biggest challenge yet. With more courage than many people would be able to muster, she was forced to begin her life all over again.
She had to relearn how to talk and walk, and rediscover the skills to allow her to function as a human being.
Her family was told it was possible she would never walk again, that she would remain a "vegetable".
But Lauren was determined to prove them wrong. Following Farmer's conviction on Thursday, the now 21-year-old expressed relief it was "all over".
She flinches at the name "Lauren Huxley" and has joked with her family that she might change her name.
While in hospital her parents had her blessed and confirmed, granting her the new middle name of Holly. Her new life can now begin -- with more promise and joy than anyone thought possible.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23710893-662,00.html
