Cleo Smith has been hailed as a future Australian Olympian less than three years after her kidnapping shocked the nation.
Cleo was just four years old when she was pulled from her sleeping bag as she slept next to her little sister inside a tent while camping with her mother and stepfather at Blowholes Campground in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, about a 10-hour drive north of Perth, on 16 October 2021.
Police and rescue workers, aided by horses, helicopters and drones, spent nearly three weeks scouring the Western Australian bushland in a massive operation.
Hope was fading as the days passed and experts feared that young Cleo was dead.
But 18 days after she went missing, police found Cleo at Terrence Darrell Kelly’s home in Carnarvon, minutes from her own family home.
Nearly four years after the horrific kidnapping and intense media scrutiny, Cleo, now 7, has made major adjustments and appears to be living a happy, normal life.
Her mother, Ellie Gliddon, shared her daughter’s most recent achievement and revealed that her daughter had won her first gymnastics competition.
The snaps, posted by 60 Minutes on Facebook, show the seven-year-old displaying her gold medal, a certificate and numerous ribbons.
Cleo Smith won gold in her first gymnastics competition, nearly three years after her kidnapping.
Cleo’s mother, Ellie, feared the disturbing abduction would rob Cleo of her childhood.
The photos were received with joy and applause from commentators.
Many were glad that Cleo had been able to live “a normal childhood” after the horrific kidnapping.
“I think all of Australia is rooting for you, Cleo. Well done!” wrote one woman:
Another woman added: “God bless her! Her entire family is the epitome of resilience.”
The update comes just two months after the family shared a collection of photos of Cleo radiantly enjoying life with her family.
The happy snaps included a family fishing trip, Cleo’s seventh birthday, playing with her little sister Isla and the sisters’ first day of school earlier this year.
“Cleo Smith is all grown up. The seven-year-old is enjoying life in Western Australia, loves school and is a big sister to Isla,” 60 Minutes wrote in the caption of the heartwarming photos in July.
A beaming Cleo proudly showed off her gold medal and ribbons.
Cleo’s family previously revealed how difficult it was for the four-year-old to readjust to life after the abduction.
Ms Smith told Channel Nine after the ordeal that Cleo had had her ability to be a child taken away.
“The first week (after Cleo came home) was probably the worst. We had to have all the doors open and all the lights on just so she could sleep, and even then, she would wake up screaming,” Smith said at the time.
‘Nightmare after nightmare, after having been through the nightmare.’
For the weeks she was held captive, Cleo was held in a bedroom with just a mattress on the floor at Kelly’s state-owned duplex in Carnarvon.
Kelly would leave Cleo alone in the house for hours while he ran other errands, turning up the radio in the bathroom to drown out her crying when he returned.
Police broke down the locked gate of Kelly’s home in Carnarvon, just 3km from her family home, at 12.46am on 3 November 2021, freeing the girl.
Cleo, then four years old, was held captive in Terrence Darrell Kelly’s state-run home for 18 days.
She was found in a bedroom playing with toys and had to be asked her name three times before she finally replied: “M-my name is Cleo,” in a statement broadcast around the world.
Kelly was arrested and subsequently charged with one count of forcibly taking a child under the age of 16.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on April 5, 2023 to 13 and a half years in prison.
The sentence was retroactive to his arrest in November 2021.
Kelly will be 48 when he is eligible for parole in May 2032.
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