By Erin Pearson
In the sandy coastal scrub at Thunder Point in the state’s south-west hid the first clue something sinister had happened to missing father Christopher Jarvis.
There, among the dunes and wind-battered coastal flora, lay the burnt wreckage of the 36-year-old father’s prized new Ford station wagon.
Christopher Jarvis was last seen alive in June 2006. His car was found on fire near the Warrnambool coast soon after.
“But there was no sign of Mr Jarvis,” Supreme Court Justice Michael Croucher said.
“For the next 16 long years, Mr Jarvis’ loved ones lived with excruciating worry and uncertainty about what happened to him.
“Did he just up and leave his family, did he commit suicide or was he a victim of foul play?”
On Tuesday, 61-year-old Glenn Fenwick was jailed for five-and-a-half years with a minimum of two years and nine months after pleading guilty to manslaughter, telling police that Jarvis was shot to the head, bashed and buried in a shallow forest grave after a dispute with a neighbour over rent.
With time already served, Fenwick will be eligible for parole in August after having been arrested and remanded in custody in late 2022.
Fenwick said he and another man bundled a semi-conscious Jarvis into the back of his own car and drove to Framlingham Forest, north-east of Warrnambool.
Jarvis was then stripped naked and fatally struck with a baseball bat before being rolled into an unmarked grave.
The court heard, Jarvis and his landlord, who cannot be named for legal reasons, lived in a town near Warrnambool.
Disputes arose over allegations of outstanding rent and unpaid plumbing works which Jarvis maintained he’d completed.
Christopher Jarvis went missing in 2006. His body has not been found.
The pair were due to have the argument settled in a tribunal, but the day before the hearing, Jarvis was killed over it instead.
The court heard Fenwick, then aged 43, and the landlord approached Jarvis about 6am on June 13, 2006, as he stood with his back turned while closing a chain gate, his car idling nearby.
Fenwick told the court that the landlord, then aged 61, struck Jarvis then shot him in the head, before stuffing him into the rear of his own car.
The two men then drove five kilometres to Framlingham Forest, collecting shovels on the way from the older man’s tip yard.
On the way, Fenwick recalled hearing Jarvis in the boot, gasping and making moaning noises.
Justice Croucher, who broke down in tears while revealing the 36-year-old’s final moments, said that after burying their victim, the two men hid their clothes and drove Jarvis’ station wagon to Thunder Point where it was set alight.
The following day, Jarvis’ partner attended the planned tribunal hearing, but when the 36-year-old failed to arrive she reported him missing to police.
For 12 years, the mystery of his disappearance left his family without answers and the local rumour mill spinning, until in 2018 when police opened a cold case missing person’s investigation.
Thunder Point in Warrnambool.Credit: Aaron Sawall
They found Fenwick had confided in a former partner about what happened to Jarvis and arrested and charged him in November 2022.
He said the day Jarvis died, he was just “helping a mate” and didn’t realise it was going to end in a death.
“The horrific murder consumed me,” Fenwick said.
Nicole Raitt and Cale Jarvis, stepdaughter and son of missing man Christopher Jarvis outside the Supreme Court in 2023.Credit: Joe Armao
Justice Croucher said the impact on Jarvis’ family had been profound, with some still unable to function properly while others felt guilty for once believing the 36-year-old had walked out on his family.
“To Mr Jarvis’ family. All I can say to you is I’m sorry for your loss. My heart is with you,” the judge said.
Jarvis’ body has never been found.
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