A jury has discovered Justin Stein responsible of murdering nine-year-old Charlise Mutten after a marathon eight days of deliberations.
Stein, 33, blinked quickly and scratched his beard because the jury delivered its responsible verdict at 10.15am within the NSW Supreme Court docket on Wednesday.
The convicted killer, who shot Charlise within the face whereas she was on vacation with him and her mom Kallista Mutten, Stein’s then fiancée, might face life behind bars.
Stein had pleaded not responsible to Charlise’s homicide, claiming as an alternative it was Kallista, 40, who had shot her daughter within the NSW Blue Mountains.
The jury deliberated for 35 hours over eight days, having retired on Thursday, June 6 following a month-long trial, and returning their verdict firstly of the ninth day.
Seven minutes after the male foreperson of the jury learn out the responsible verdict, Justice Helen Wilson formally convicted Stein of Charlise’s homicide.
Justin Stein has been on trial for a month accused of murdering nine-year-old Charlise Mutten
Charlise Mutten was shot and killed whereas on vacation along with her mom Kallista Mutten (above) who was then engaged to the accused, Justin Stein
Stein claimed Kallista tricked him into driving round with the kid’s physique inside a barrel at the back of his ute earlier than he was pressured to discard it on the banks of the Colo River.
However the jury didn’t consider him.
Stein was additionally charged with interfering with a corpse. He admitted in the course of the trial that he did eliminate Charlise’s physique.
In closing submissions earlier than they retired earlier this month, the jury was advised a core problem within the case to deicide was not how the schoolgirl died, however who pulled the set off.
Stein had claimed that after Ms Mutten shot her daughter, she secretly positioned Charlise’s physique within the barrel and secured it on the again of his ute with out his data.
Ms Mutten denied having any involvement in her daughter’s dying and broke down in tears when she confronted the accusation in court docket.
Most of the details of the case weren’t in dispute, together with that Charlise died from gunshot wounds she sustained at or close to a Mount Wilson property owned by Stein’s mom, the jury heard.
Justice Helen Wilson had advised jurors that in the event that they discovered there was an affordable risk that Ms Mutten shot her personal daughter, they have to discover Stein not responsible.
Charlise Mutten, 9, died from a gunshot wound to the face fired at shut vary in January 2022, after which her physique was dumped in a barrel on a riverbank
Charlise’s physique was positioned in a barrel laden with sand and positioned on the again of Justin Stein’s ute underneath a tarpaulin, pushed to the Colo River and dumped
‘The Crown has no proof of somebody who noticed the capturing of Charlise by the accused,’ she mentioned.
Stein appeared because the defence’s solely witness within the trial, spending two days going over his model of occasions.
On the time of her dying, Charlise had been visiting her mom and Stein from Queensland, the place she lived along with her grandparents.
Charlise stayed at Stein’s mom’s Sydney home, then with Kallista and Stein – who had been engaged on the time, with the little woman calling the accused ‘Daddy’.
They divided their time between Wildenstein and a cabin on the Riviera Ski Gardens at Decrease Portland.
Charlise spent the night time of January 11 alone with Stein at Mount Wilson, whereas her mom remained on the cabin, which is when prosecutors argued he killed her.
Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC mentioned it was open for the jury to seek out Stein had drugged and fatally shot Charlise.
The schoolgirl, who lived along with her grandparents in Coolangatta, had flown south to spend time along with her mom and her ‘stepdad’, Justin Stein when the tragedy occurred
A put up mortem discovered Charlise had traces of anti-psychotic prescription drug Quetiapine – aka Seroquel – in her system. Stein took the drug for his schizophrenia.
The jury heard an grownup dose of the drug would have a profound sedative impact on a toddler, however that it was tough to inform how a lot Charlise had been given.
Mr McKay mentioned a attainable motive was that Stein killed Charlise when she turned sick after he gave her the drug.
Stein denied giving Charlise the medicine, and mentioned he had gone together with a plan to cowl up the homicide, together with mendacity to police about leaving the woman within the care of an imaginary girl who was valuing gadgets on the Mount Wilson property.
Stein testified that when he turned conscious Charlise’s physique was in a barrel on the again of his ute, he panicked and in the end disposed of it.
Charlise’s physique was present in a foetal place, the other way up within the barrel weighted with sand. Her corpse was wrapped in luggage and a tarpaulin and certain with tape.
