The jury in Justin Stein’s murder trial has retired to decide whether or not the 34-year-old man is guilty of murdering 9-year-old schoolgirl Charlise Mutten by shooting her in the face.
In closing submissions Thursday, jurors were told the issue in the case is not how the schoolgirl died but who pulled the trigger.
Justin Stein maintains that Charlise’s mother, Kallista Mutten, shot and killed her own daughter around 9 p.m. on January 12, 2022.
The prosecution’s case is that Stein was the “last person” to see Charlise and have the opportunity to kill her between 7:16 p.m. on January 11 and 10:06 a.m. on January 12.
Charlise’s body was found near the Colo River, northwest of Sydney, on January 18, 2022 with gunshot wounds to the lower back and face, the latter being the shot that killed her.
Stein, 33, has pleaded not guilty to Charlise’s murder, claiming he heard Mutten shoot his daughter, who screamed his name and then “Mom, no” before falling to the ground on the Stein family property, Wildenstein.
Judge Helen Wilson concluded her directions and summary of evidence in the trial before the New South Wales Supreme Court on Thursday and sent the jury to consider their verdict.
Justin Stein has been on trial for four weeks for the alleged murder of 9-year-old Charlise Mutten, who died from a gunshot wound to the face in January 2022 while on vacation with her mother.
Judge Helen Wilson told jurors that if they believed Kallista Mutten (above) shot his daughter Charlise, then they should find Justin Stein not guilty.
It could take days or just hours for the 12 men and women to reach a unanimous verdict after a trial that lasted two weeks less than expected.
Stein admitted dumping Charlise’s body but said Mutten shot his daughter and placed her body in a barrel in the back of his ute without her knowledge.
Mrs Mutten denied having any involvement in her daughter’s death and broke down in tears when she faced the prosecution in court.
Many of the facts of the case were not in dispute, including the fact that Charlise died from gunshot wounds she suffered on or near a Mount Wilson estate owned by Stein’s mother, the jury heard.
“The issue is not how Charlise died, but who pulled the trigger,” Judge Wilson said.
The judge told the jury that if they found there was a reasonable possibility that Mutten shot his own daughter, they should find Stein not guilty.
Schoolgirl Charlise Mutten was excited to go on vacation with her mother, but the nine-year-old never returned home after being shot twice and her body thrown into a barrel.
“The Crown has no evidence that anyone saw the defendant shooting Charlise,” he said.
Stein appeared as the defense’s only witness at the trial and spent two days going over his version of events earlier in the week.
At the time of her death, Charlise had been visiting her mother and Stein from Queensland, where she lived with her grandparents.
Charlise stayed at Stein’s mother’s house in Sydney, then with Ms Mutten and Stein, who were engaged at the time, with the girl calling the accused “dad”.
They split their time between Wildenstein and a cabin at Riviera Ski Gardens in Lower Portland, the trial was told.
Charlise spent the night of January 11 alone with Stein at Mount Wilson, while her mother remained at the cabin, which is when prosecutors argued he killed her.
Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC said it was open to the jury to find that Stein had drugged and shot Charlise dead.
The Stein family property in Mount Wilson (above), where prosecutors allege Stein killed Charlise and then disposed of the schoolgirl’s body 60 kilometers away in a barrel on the riverbank.
Charlise Mutten (right) was shot dead and her body was placed in the barrel seen under a tarpaulin at the back of Stein’s (left) ute and dumped in the Colo River.
An autopsy found that Charlise had traces in her body of quetiapine, the ingredient in the antipsychotic drug Seroquel, which Stein took for her schizophrenia.
The jury heard that an adult dose of the drug would have a profound sedative effect on a child, but that it was difficult to know how much had been given to Charlise.
McKay said one possible motive was that Stein killed Charlise when she became ill after he gave her the drug.
Stein denied giving the medication to Charlise and instead claimed that Ms. Mutten shot her on the night of January 12.
He said he had followed a plan to cover up the murder, including lying to police about leaving the girl in the care of an imaginary woman who was appraising items at the Mount Wilson property.
Stein claimed he didn’t know Charlise’s body was in a barrel in the back of his ute until the next day and that he panicked and eventually disposed of her remains when he found out.
