Kallista Mutten told a court she mistakenly trusted partner Justin Stein with her nine-year-old daughter, as prosecutors push for him to be jailed for life.
The mother of nine-year-old Charlise Mutten has tearfully told a court that her smart and kind daughter had longed for a father, and she hates herself for putting her trust in the wrong person, as prosecutors push for a life sentence for the girl’s killer.of murdering Charlise, whose body was found with gunshot wounds in a barrel next to the Colo River in January 2022.“It’s almost akin to an execution, isn’t it?” Justice Helen Wilson said at Stein’s sentence hearing on Friday.
Mutten remembered Charlise as a smart, kind and good child, who dreamed of being a doctor or a vet and read 180 books in one year. The court heard Tweed Heads Public School has named an award in Charlise’s honour.Stein spun a web of lies, claiming he left Charlise in the care of a female auctioneer at the home because she was sick. He suggested his former criminal associates may have kidnapped her, and pretended to search for her.
Charlise’s grandfather, Clinton Mutten Senior, read a joint statement on behalf of his wife Deborah. He said the sound of the nearby school bell reminds them of their loss.“Charlise was such a beautiful, caring, respectful, smart, thoughtful and loving person to all that knew her,” he said. “Her murder by a person of whom she trusted, was calling ‘Daddy’, and hoped for him to someday be a caring father to her, I believe breaches all sense of decency and trust.
“These are questions I believe will never be answered, and will be a burden I will carry for the rest of my life.”
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