Inside The Sick Mind Of A
Double Murderer
Sean Fewster -
Adelaide Advertiser
May 1, 2004
MARK Errin Rust was just 13 when
he started following pretty girls, all the while fantasising about
having sex with them.
Later, he found gratification in
exposing himself, thrilled by the horrified reactions of his victims.
His sexual urges increased in
intensity and frequency - as did his hatred for women, caused by a
series of failed relationships and his own poor health.
Rust's every move became
frustrated by Kleinfelter's Syndrome, which left him infertile and
frustrated his heightened predatory desires. That frustration finally
culminated in murder and rape.
Earlier this week, Supreme Court
Justice Margaret Nyland jailed the 39-year-old for life without parole
for the brutal murders of Croatian immigrant Maya Jakioc and Japanese
schoolgirl Megumi Suzuki.
Yesterday, Justice Nyland
imposed a concurrent 12-year term for the crimes he committed in and
around those murders - and again denied him parole.
The sentences bring to an end
three decades of deviance, violence and uncontrollable sexual urges - as
revealed by two psychiatric reports tendered to the court.
The reports are based on
sessions Rust had with Royal Adelaide Hospital experts Dr Narain Nambiar
and Dr Ken O'Brien after his 2001 arrest - one of the few times the
killer has been examined in his life.
Dr Nambiar says Rust "exhibited
very abnormal behaviour from a very early age". "During his early teens,
he first exposed himself to a woman and found this so much more
gratifying than masturbation in private," Dr Nambiar says.
"He told me that it was more
thrilling to masturbate in front of a pretty woman, mainly due to the
reaction it would provoke for his victim."
Rust was charged no less than
seven times with indecency offences - but was only fined, never
convicted.
His normal sex life, meanwhile,
was dysfunctional.
One of his two marriages
involved "fighting fits" before having sex. "This often made him angry
and frustrated ... although he had the urge to have sex, he often found
it difficult to (perform)," he says.
Dr O'Brien says that, in 1992,
Rust was diagnosed with Kleinfelter's Syndrome - he has an additional X
chromosome, shrunken testicles and fertility problems.
In June 1993, he went to jail
for lighting a $642,000 fire at Kensington.
On April 12, 1999 - two months
after his second marriage disintegrated - Rust attacked and murdered
Maya Jakic at Payneham. He later told Dr O'Brien that Ms Jakic had
refused his offers of a lift and "some fun".
"He grabbed her mouth with his
hand and choked her... I asked him why he did this, to which he replied
'at the time it was a thrill'," Dr O'Brien says. "He told me (he wantedl
to have sex with her, but he decided to kill her at the last moment."
Her body was found six days
later, after Rust made an anonymous call to 000.
He was jailed again in late 1999
for trespassing, and was released on parole on July 23, 2001. Ten days
later, he returned to his old ways - grabbing a woman at a Cumberland
Park ATM and masturbating in front of her until she fled.
"It would appear that the more
confidence Rust had developed with regard to his ability to fulfil his
sexual urges, the more serious his offending has become," Dr Nambiar
says. "What is also very significant is that there appears to have been
an escalation in the nature of offending... culminating in murder and
rape."
On August 3, 2001, he murdered
Megumi Suzuki at Westbourne Park, wrapping her body in plastic and
dumping it in a rubbish bin.
She was eventually found in
December, 2001, under 10,000 tonnes of rubbish at Wingfield. "Rust told
me that (murder) was 'different'," Dr O'Brien says.
"When I asked him why he killed
her, he replied 'because I did'."
As police frantically searched
for Ms Suzuki, Rust struck again - on August 16, 2001, he cut the power
to a Kensington Rd office building, broke in and raped the lone female
occupant. Although armed with a knife, Rust did not harm her further -
he ran away and she saw part of his car's registration number, this
leading to his arrest.
Rust later confessed his crimes
to a fellow prison inmate, and was found to have Ms Suzuki's CD player
in his cell.
The double-murderer is now "disgusted"
by his actions, but both doctors say the murderer seems "fairly shallow"
and shows "what appears to be a lack of remorse". "Rust conceded that if
he had not been apprehended, his problems would have continued and even
maybe more killings (would have occurred)," Dr O'Brien said.
"In view of the murders that he
has committed, and taking into account the acknowledged aggressive rape
fantasies, it is my opinion that Rust is an extremely dangerous
individual with... a high probability that he would re-offend in a
similar manner should he be released from custody at this time."
Court Hears How Killer Left
Mothers In Torment
Sean Fewster - Adelaide Advertiser
28-11-2003
ALTHOUGH buried in her native
Japan, a reminder of the short life of Megumi Suzuki endures in Adelaide.
The tranquillity of her memorial
plaque, in Centennial Park Cemetery, contrasts is with the horror of her
death and where her body was found, under 10,000 tonnes of garbage at
Wingfleld dump in August, 2001.
In a statement read to the
Supreme Court yesterday Megumi's mother, Masako, told how the dump - and
the actions of sexual predator Mark Erin Rust - continue to torment her.
"I still don't know now to
accept my daughter's death. It makes me insane when I think of her being
treated like rubbish and dumped with rubbish for months," Mrs Suzuki
said.
"She was my dream and my hopes,
now my heart fills with anger and bitterness. Megumi wanted to be a
counsellor to international students .. - why should someone who only
wanted to help, be killed?"
Half a world away, another
mother, Jagoda Jelic, suffers the same pain and grief at the hands of
the same man.
Her daughter, Maya Jakic, was
also murdered by Rust and her body also dumped, this time in bushes near
the Payneham police station in April 1999.
In her statement. Ms Jelic said
she had since buried Maya near her home in Croatia.
"Why would anyone want to kill
Maya and cover her with branches, thinking no one would find her and he
could cover his dirty crime?" Ms Jelic said. "My whole world and future
was in Maya ... my life now is going to the cemetery every day, no
matter if it is rain, sun or snow."
Rust, 38, of Gilles Plains, is
serving two concurrent life sentences after pleading guilty to both
murders.
He also pleaded guilty to one
count of rape, one count of assault and to committing an act of gross
indecency on August 2 2001, one day before Megumi Suzuki's murder.
Mrs Suzuki and Ms Jelic's
statements were read to Justice Margaret Nyland to help determine Rust's
non-parole period.
The Office of the Director of
Public Prosecutions wants Rust - who has a criminal history that
includes 11 incidents of indecent behaviour and gross indecency -
declared incapable of controlling his sexual urges.
If declared, Rust would be held
after his sentence until deemed by psychiatrists to be "fit" to re-enter
society.
Rust sat quietly through the
hearing, listening intently to and staring at Eda Gregov, who read Ms
Jelic's statement, and Fusae Simpson, who read Mrs Suzuki's. Ms Simpson
told Rust that he had "left eternal scars on the hearts" of the families.
"The Suzukis are good people and
they have no unkind words to say about you, but I am sure they are badly
hurt inside and will never forgive you," she said.
"You have given so much pain to
such an innocent and wonderful family."
Ms Gregov told Rust her life-
long friend, Ms Jelic, was a shell of her former self.
"I can only say to you that you
have not only killed and taken the life of Maya, you have also
completely destroyed the life of her family," she said.
Justice Nyland will hear more
submissions next month.
