Accused killer drove around with the body
THE man charged with murdering nine-year-old Charlise Mutten drove around Sydney for up to five hours with her body in the back of a boat while he tried to work out where to dump her, police will allege.
The Bulletin can also reveal detectives believe that last Tuesday night, the girl’s mother, Kallista Mutten, left her daughter in the care of her fiance, Justin Laurens Stein, at the Blue Mountains property where all of them had been holidaying.
About 7pm that night is the last time Charlise was confirmed to have been alive.
Police have so far had only a brief conversation with Ms Mutten, who remains in a fragile state in hospital, unable to be formally interviewed by detectives.
The tragic search for the “bright” little girl ended when her body was found by homicide detectives who retraced Stein’s steps after he allegedly bought five 20kg bags of sand from Bunnings, fuelled up his boat and tried to launch it from a dock in inner Sydney. A blue tarpaulin was found in the back of the boat.
The boat was inoperable and police allege Stein then tried to dump the barrel containing Charlise’s body in the Colo River, but the weight of the sand meant he was unable to roll it into the water.
It is alleged he left it in dense bushland, where it was found late on Tuesday, January 18.
With his inner-city Leichhardt home and the Blue Mountains properties both crime scenes, Stein is understood to have spent the past few nights staying at a friend’s Surry Hills apartment.
It was there he was arrested before being charged with murdering Charlise between 7pm on January 11 and 10am on January 12 at Mt Wilson.
Ms Mutten made the triple-0 call reporting her daughter missing on January 14 at 8.20am.
Central Local Court heard on Wednesday that Stein had mental health issues that required large doses of drugs.
Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson said police were still appealing for anyone who saw Charlise as they are unsure when she was killed.
“What we are sure of is that (we will allege) the accused we have charged with murder was responsible for placing her in the barrel and placing the barrel in bushland,” he said.
Commissioner Hudson said police had identified inconsistencies in two versions of what happened to Charlise provided by Stein.
Police will allege that the man made the trip to Bunnings in his red ute last Thursday afternoon, on January 13.
It is believe he also visited locations including a BP service station, a Five Dock boat ramp and a Windsor boat ramp.
His movements were traced using GPS data, phone records and CCTV footage.
Police are waiting for the go-ahead from doctors to speak with Ms Mutten about her conversations with her fiance, with no evidence to suggest she was involved.
“We keep an open mind. We investigate, we don’t speculate,” Commissioner Hudson said.
Stein, Ms Mutten and her daughter had been holidaying at the prestigious Blue Mountains wedding venue from where the girl reportedly went missing.
Owned by his wealthy parents, the man listed it as his home address on court documents.
Charlise, who lived in the care of her grandparents at Coolangatta, was staying with them for two weeks.
At Central Local Court on Wednesday, Stein appeared via video link from Surry Hills police cells where he raised his head only once to acknowledge his name.
He wore a mask and a white Everlast hoodie.
His barrister told the court Stein had been medicated for mental health issues at “high dosages” for “many years” and magistrate Robert Williams agreed the medication should continue while he was on remand in jail.
The barrister also said he wanted the court to keep him away from other inmates for his own safety.
“He has asked the court to recommend a no-association classification,” the barrister said.
Mr Williams said he had no power to keep him separate from other prisoners – that would fall to Corrective Services NSW. Stein made no application for bail and will next appear at Penrith Local Court in mid-March.