William Tyrrell’s former adoptive parents will have to wait at least half a year to appeal their convictions and sentences for the assault and intimidation of another boy.
The couple, whose legal names cannot be released, appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday to have their court dates set.
“We would still prefer that these two matters be heard by separate judges,” the adoptive father’s lawyer, Phoebe MacDougall, told the court.
In March, Magistrate Susan McIntyre ruled that the mother’s threats to slap the boy (who is not William) amounted to intimidation.
The woman previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault after hitting the boy with a wooden spoon and kicking him in the thigh.
The foster father also intimidated the boy on one occasion while he was driving to school, when he was heard crying and sobbing.
Ms McIntyre also acquitted the foster mother of five counts of intimidation and dismissed a charge against the foster father of assaulting the girl.
The couple were found guilty and given 12 months’ bail for good behaviour.
The former adoptive parents of William Tyrrell (pictured) will have to wait at least half a year to appeal their convictions and sentences for the assault and intimidation of another boy.
The couple (pictured), who cannot be legally identified, appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday for court dates to be set.
The adoptive father is scheduled to face a half-day appeal hearing on February 10, 2025, then the adoptive mother’s legal challenge will last two days beginning on April 7.
The Crown prosecutor told the court the mother’s appeal would take longer because there were five days of hearings to study, plus lengthy phone intercepts to listen to.
The cases against the couple have been heavily suppressed, meaning their names and other identifying details have been hidden from the public eye.
The police prosecution of the couple was based on more than 1,000 hours of undercover recordings made in their home and vehicles over 14 months in 2020 and 2021.
The recordings were made by detectives investigating the disappearance of three-year-old William, who vanished while playing at his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the central north coast of New South Wales, on September 12, 2014.
Police investigations into whether the foster mother was involved in William’s disappearance have been suspended until the investigation into the boy’s suspected death resumes.
Investigators had provided a report to prosecutors for consideration of possible charges against the woman, who they believed may have disposed of William’s body after his accidental death.
She has always denied having anything to do with William’s disappearance.
No one has been charged in the case and there is still a $1 million reward for information.
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