Warning: This article may contain details of violence and sexual assault that are triggering for some readers.
John Francis was sitting in front of the television with his son on an otherwise unremarkable weeknight.
They sat quietly as the next program began; a documentary on the murder of 26-year-old nurse Anita Cobby.
His son, Daniel, suddenly heard sobbing coming from his father. He wasn’t an emotional man, and he couldn’t work out why this woman on the television had elicited such a response in him.
That’s when John decided to sit down and tell his two children, a son and a daughter, who he was.
His birth name was John Cobby, and Anita Cobby had been his wife.
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John, then 23, had met Anita, then 20, at Sydney hospital, where they were both studying nursing.
Top Comments
I too have just finished listening to Casefile. I feel for John and Anita's family and friends. May she rest in blissful peace x
I listened to this episode of Casefile on Sunday and it was so well done. Heartbreaking but well done. I felt so much for John. I'd read about this case a fair bit before but not much of it had focused on John.
I really recommend Casefile to anyone interested in this story, or in true crime in general. They do a wonderful job telling the stories of the crimes while respecting the victims, survivors and families. And they're very responsive to listener feedback about things they don't get quite right too.