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Friday, March 29, 2024

Accused bought 20kg sandbags prior to alleged murder

A Sydney court has heard that the man charged with the murder of 9-year-old, Charlise Mutten, whose body was discovered in a barrel near the Colo River yesterday, had recently purchased 20kg sand bags and fuel for a boat.

NSW Police detectives allege the schoolgirl was murdered while on a family holiday in the NSW Blue Mountains region.

Charlise lived with her maternal grandmother, Deborah Mutten (the pair are pictured, main photo) at Coolangatta on the Queensland-NSW border. She had been holidaying with her mother, Kallista Mutten and her partner, Justin Stein at a Mount Wilson wedding and function venue in NSW when she disappeared on Thursday afternoon.

The pair reported the child missing on Friday morning.

After five days of searching, the girl’s body was located in a barrel near the Colo River, about an hour from the Blue Mountains, last night.

32-year-old Stein, who became engaged to Charlise’s mother in December 2020, was arrested and charged at a Surry Hills unit last night and appeared at Sydney’s Central Local Court today.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said there were multiple inconsistencies with Stein’s account of what happened before his soon to be stepdaughter went missing.

“[His] movements escalated our scrutiny … those included the purchase of a number of 20 kilogram sandbags from a hardware store [and] fuel for a boat,” he said.

Court documents revealed that detectives believe the young girl was killed last Thursday. 

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