Charlise Mutten’s murder trial heard how the nine-year-old girl’s body was bound with blood-stained zip ties and buried in a barrel filled with sand with her pink Nike sandals.
The barrel was then dumped on the bank of a lonely river, where it was later discovered by detectives, and hoisted to make its final journey to Sydney’s main mortuary, the court was told.
On Wednesday, the jury heard chilling details from the schoolgirl’s autopsy and where she suffered gunshot wounds.
The alleged murder weapon, a .22 caliber BSA bolt-action rifle, which had been wrapped in plastic with its magazine, ammunition and scope, was also shown to the jury, who were allowed to handle it as they passed it around.
The court was later told about a comment accused killer Justin Stein made at a dinner party weeks before Charlise’s alleged murder.
A dinner guest told the court that Stein had said: “If something happened and the boy didn’t come back to Queensland, he would end up in prison again.”
Stein, 33, the former fiance of Charlise’s mother Kallista Mutten, 40, is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court in Parramatta accused of shooting her nine-year-old daughter.
Creepy details about how Charlise Mutten’s body (above) was buried in sand in a barrel wearing pink Nike sandals have emerged at the trial of her alleged killer, Justin Stein.
Schoolgirl Charlise’s body was found in the fetal position in the barrel (pictured behind the red ute) that was dumped on the banks of the Colo River in January 2022.
At the time of her death, Charlise was visiting her mother during the school holidays at the Stein family property at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.
Stein, who was engaged to Ms Mutten at the time, is accused of killing the girl between 7.16pm on January 11 and 10.06am on January 12, 2022.
He was arrested on January 18 after Charlise’s body was found in a barrel in the Colo River, 58 kilometers from Mount Wilson.
Homicide squad senior detective Justin Haydon revealed he had gone searching the riverbank on a set of GPS coordinates taken from Justin Stein’s mobile phone.
He told the court he found a “reddish-brown drum with a lid… on an embankment” which was later recovered using a hydraulic crane.
After unscrewing the lid of the barrel and removing the sand, police located “what appeared to be human remains.”
They immediately resealed the barrel, which was then taken to Lidcombe Mortuary in Sydney.
Mitchell James, a former forensic and crime scene police officer, described how the autopsy of “the unknown woman inside the barrel” began at 8.30am on January 20, 2022.
Reading his post-mortem statement, Mr James said: “The deceased appeared to be head down in a fetal position… tied up with a number of blood-stained wrappings.”
He said that also inside the barrel was up to 100 kg of sand, vegetation and soil “with apparent blood stains.”
“The deceased was tied up with several blood-stained wrappings, her head and legs… in a blood-stained blue tarp with clear and brown packing tape” and a “plastic bag with a pair of pink Nike sandals,” he said. to court. .
Custody of Kallista Mutten’s daughter Charlsie (above) was a topic of discussion at a dinner party shortly before the schoolgirl’s alleged shooting.
Kallista Mutten’s extensive use of ice was exposed during the trial for the alleged murder of her 9-year-old daughter Charlise while on vacation with Kallista and her then-boyfriend, Justin Stein.
James said the girl’s head and torso were inside a white plastic woven bag, stained with blood and tied with black tape.
In addition to the pink Nike flip-flops, Charlise’s outfit included a black jacket, a red shirt, black children’s sweatpants, a size 10 black Target skirt ‘with penetrating damage to the back,’ and a black hoop earring on her lobe. of the left ear.
An internal examination during the autopsy revealed lead fragments in the deceased girl’s brain and in her left hip.
Examination of the body also found a 5mm x 5mm entry wound to the right cheek, where the bullet struck and dislodged a tooth and lodged in the base of the skull.
There was also an oval-shaped entry wound on the lower left back, above the right hip, which was 5mm high and 8mm wide and had pierced the pelvic bone.
Tony Hutt, one of the Steins’ neighbors in Mount Wilson, told the court that he frequently socialized with Justin Stein’s mother, Annemie, at dinners at their homes.
He described a strange encounter with Justin Stein in December 201, when Stein was lying face down in a sewer and claimed he was “digging for treasure” when he was disturbed by Mr. Hutt and his German shepherd dog.
Hutt told the court he then took police to that location where they allegedly found two firearms, the .22 BSA rifle and a .30 Winchester lever-action rifle.
On another occasion, at dinner with Stein and her mother, as well as Charlise and her mother Kallista, she told the court that the defendant had made a strange comment.
Charlise Mutten’s autopsy revealed chilling details about the fatal gunshot wounds the 9-year-old girl suffered while on vacation with her mother and then her stepfather, Justin Stein.
Justin Stein, 33, is charged with the alleged murder of 9-year-old Charlise Mutten in January 2020 while the schoolgirl was staying at his family’s property, Wildenstein.
Describing Ms Mutten’s apparent relationship with her daughter as “exceptional”, Mr Hutt said the issue of Charlise’s custody was discussed.
Due to Ms. Mutten’s extensive drug history with methamphetamines, Charlise typically lived with her maternal grandparents in Tweed Heads.
The court heard that Mrs Mutten had been using 17 ice points daily and had been admitted to hospital twice in the months leading up to Charlise’s planned visit.
But Mr Hutt said Mrs Mutten had commented that night that she might just “leave” with her daughter.
Hutt said he also remembered one particular comment from Justin Stein about Charlise.
“I can remember the conversation,” he told the court. ‘Justin said if something happened and the boy didn’t return to Queensland, he would end up in prison again. ‘
The trial before Judge Helen Wilson continues.