Progress on child grab case

CHILD snatcher Cecil Maurice Mabb’s case is finally progressing through the court system, with a private psychiatrist employed to assess and provide a report before he is sentenced.

The case had stalled in the Supreme Court because of a lack of public psychiatric resources.

In January, Mabb pleaded guilty to attempted abduction and assault in relation to an incident at Montagu in the North-West.

He was listed for sentence the next week, before the court ordered Mabb be examined by the chief forensic psychiatrist at the expense of the Crown.

Justice Robert Pearce was told on Thursday that Mabb could now be assessed by a private professional and a report ready for the court by mid-November.

“I suggest we get the report and proceed from there,” prosecutor Katie Edwards said in a directions hearing in Burnie on Thursday.

Mabb had pleaded guilty at his first available opportunity and indicated to the court he wanted to be sentenced as soon as possible.

The court heard Mabb grabbed the five-year-old from her bike. Her parents were setting up camp for a family holiday at the popular campground near Smithton.

The little girl was abducted as Mabb (pictured) threw her into his vehicle, but was found within an hour of the alert being raised, on a beach about 1km from where she was taken, dazed and in shock.

The court heard Mabb had told prison officials he was a cannibal and had wanted to “eat” the child.