After being charged with killing a girl, her alleged killer asks the court for help.
After the body of a missing nine-year-old girl was found in a barrel dumped in NSW bushland a week after she went missing, a Sydney man has been charged with murder.
He was arrested at a Surry Hills apartment on Tuesday night after police found the man’s body parts in bushland near a stretch of the Colo River.
Using the help of divers, a body was found on Tuesday. It hasn’t been identified yet.
Sydney Central Local Court had a short video link hearing on Wednesday morning.
People in court heard that the man had been in “long-term care” for mental health issues. His lawyer asked that he be fully screened for mental health issues.
During his time in custody, the accused had “concerns for his own safety,” the court heard. He asked for solitary confinement, but Magistrate Robin Williams said that would be a matter for Correctional Services.
In Penrith Local Court, he didn’t ask for bail, and he will be back there on March 18.
Because of legal reasons, the nine-year-old can no longer be named. He was with his family at Mount Wilson, which is 20 km north of Katoomba.
“A number of anomalies” have allegedly been found in his movements in the days before the child was reported missing, police said on Wednesday. The man has now become a main focus of their investigation.
We were able to get some information about the man’s vehicle and where he was going through GPS and CCTV tracking, Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said to the press.
In addition to talking to the girl’s mother on the phone a few times, they bought some 20 kg sandbags from a hardware store on Thursday afternoon. They then tried to get the sandbags filled with gasoline and try to get their boat to float at one of the inner Sydney docks.
In his report, Mr Hudson said that the man couldn’t get the boat to float. Police then launched a search for the girl’s body at that location.
He said that based on the first evidence, it looked like the young girl was alive last Wednesday and maybe last Thursday.
This is what he said: “Based on the evidence we have at the moment, which could be disputed, she was alive at least until Wednesday.”
She may have been alive on Thursday, though.
It’s been said that the girl’s mother is under medical supervision and will be interviewed by police when her doctors say it’s OK for them to do that.
Police are still looking into how the girl died and whether there was a reason for her murder.
“No stone will be left unturned”: Mr Hudson said that police will not leave anything out.
The young girl was last seen on Thursday afternoon, but police didn’t find out about her disappearance until Friday, when a family member asked about her whereabouts.
There were more than 100 police and emergency personnel, including dog units, homicide detectives and rescue helicopters, who spent five days searching the area around Mount Wilson and the bush near the Hawkesbury River. They looked for signs of a possible crime.
Interstate relatives of the girl also called for help in the case of a missing person.
A police chief said on Sunday that they had “grave concerns” for her safety.
It was the next day that a police spokesperson from New South Wales said that the homicide squad had also been called in to help local authorities.
PM: I’m heartbroken
At a press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison looked very shocked when he learned about the new developments.
Sorry, I didn’t see that before coming out today, he said. “Having heard that news, it’s just heartbreaking.”
After the accident, Mr Morrison thanked the emergency services in a Facebook post and said that his thoughts were with his family.
he said: “I can’t imagine what the family is going through, my thoughts and prayers are with them right now.”
“I also want to thank all the people who have been there for the family during these very hard days, including the police in New South Wales and the search and investigation teams.”
Children who are victims of crime can’t be named by the public in New South Wales.
