‘The news we’ve been waiting four years for’
Missing twins found at isolated property
SHE kept them off-the-grid for four years, her twin daughters, now 11 – no school and isolated on a property away from nosy neighbours.
Yesterday, life on the run ended for Cassie Watter when Australian Federal Police dramatically swooped on her car near Taree on NSW’s mid north coast to reunite Bronte and Isabella with their father, Michael Watter.
Cassie Watter, 46, was yesterday in police custody in relation to kidnapping the twins.
The children’s grandmother, Heather Doubleday, yesterday said she was relieved to hear from her daughter after four years of silence.
“We had a phone call from Cassie saying she was in police custody in Taree. She was found with Bronte and Isabella. Cassie sounded very composed,” Mrs Doubleday said. “It was a bit of a shock but it was just lovely to hear from her.”
Mrs Doubleday said she and her husband Arthur were preparing to seek custody of the children.
The long-awaited breakthrough comes just three weeks after an impassioned plea from the twins’ father when he thanked the public for their ongoing support.
“Let’s hope someone brings some new information forward,’’ he said.
Last night Mr Watter rushed to Taree to be reunited with his daughters. He said he had not yet spoken to them.
“(It’s) the news we’ve been waiting for over four years now, so I was pretty excited.
“I just got a call while I was at work and it was the federal police ringing to say they’d located the girls and that I was able to come and pick them up,” he said.
“A bit of excitement and a bit of nerves I guess, but I’m just looking forward to my girls being able to get back to a normal life after years of insecurity and instability.”
Mr Watter thanked police for their work in bringing his daughters home. The Family Court and AFP have granted permission for details of the case to be released.
The Watter case is another example of a mother stealing her children and keeping them underground during or after a messy separation. In many cases, they change the appearance of their children – cut or dye their hair, and even change their names. Many do not officially work or receive welfare benefits, raising questions about how they fund their secret lives.
Mr Watter was last night trying to reconnect with his twin girls, who have not seen him since they were taken from Hermit Park Primary School in Townsville on Friday, April 4, 2014.
It has been all-consuming for Mr Watter, who has never stopped looking or given up hope that one day he would see his girls again.
The twins were only seven when their lives were upended. Their parents were in a toxic marriage split and it is likely they were told horror stories about their dad.
Mr Watter was awarded full custody of his daughters in 2011, with police finding evidence at the time that their mother was coaching them to
THEY’VE BEEN GONE A LONG TIME, THEY’VE CHANGED A LOT IN THOSE THREE YEARS. AND I’VE MISSED A LOT OF TIME WITH THEM
MICHAEL WATTER
tell authorities they were being abused.
Mrs Watter’s car was found at Anderson Park in the Townsville suburb of Pimlico. Inside, the girls’ school uniforms were in their schoolbags.
“There have been no sightings whatsoever,” a desperate Mr Watter said in 2015.
“How much longer is this going to go on? Even if they are hidden away on some property in the middle of nowhere, living in a homestead, even that’s like keeping them on some sort of prison farm.
“There are no friends, teachers, no sport; none of the normal things that help people grow into healthy, well-rounded individuals.
“I dropped them off and was watching them walk up to the school gates, together with other kids all around them. That was the last I heard or saw of them. About 3pm, I walked through into the school grounds and one of their little friends said: ‘Where was Isabella today? She wasn’t at school’.
“I was puzzled by that. I walked up towards the classroom and the teacher came out on the balcony and saw me. She had this look on her face, like she was pretty shocked to see me there.”
In April 2015, the Family Court issued a recovery notice for the twins. Later, Mr Watter would offer a $50,000 reward for information leading to the return of his children.
And then a potential breakthrough – social media and bank records indicated Mrs Watter was in Brisbane, near Strathpine and Everton Park. It prompted Mr Watter to relocate to Brisbane.
After time he believed it was in vain.
“We’ve haven’t had the sort of information that puts them anywhere specific and they could be anywhere,” he said. “Overseas is a possibility but I’m not really sure.
“We do still have people coming forward with potential sightings. It’s not just about recognising the girls, it’s about taking that next step and calling and reporting it.”
Last year in Canberra for International Missing Children’s Day he, with other grieving parents, showed computergenerated images of what their children would look like.
“They’ve been gone a long time, they’ve changed a lot in those three years. And I’ve missed a lot of time with them,” Mr Watter said.