Cleo Smith will be able to recall ‘specific’ details to help police, says psychologist

An expert in interviewing children says police will have to follow a critical step to obtain a reliable account of what happened to Cleo Smith.

Cleo Smith will be able to clearly recall her alleged abduction and will be able to pass vital details to police, a forensic psychologist says.

But it will be critical she is interviewed carefully by police trained specifically to speak with children to obtain a reliable account of what happened to her.

Dr Celine Van Golde, a senior lecturer in forensic psychology at the University of Sydney, said Cleo’s memory right now was as reliable as it ever will be.

“If it was 10 years later, it would be a different question. But at this point, if she’s interviewed in an appropriate way, she can recall a lot of details.”

Dr Van Golde, who specialises in interviewing children, said officers shouldn’t ask “suggestive” questions, but focus on “open-ended questions” and then ask follow up questions by the answers she provided.

She said trauma affected children differently – just like adults – and some were more resilient than others “and it can have an impact on memory – but it doesn’t have to.”

Cleo Smith went missing in remote WA. Picture: Facebook

Dr Van Golde said children being asked to remember things could be difficult, but like adults, they can have their memory triggered by events.

“But what we find is that you are able to get very accurate details if you go for example by the event that happens.”

That includes the night she is believed to have been abducted.

“You could say ‘what do you remember from when you were sleeping in the tents? That could be a starting point,” she said.

Locked away for days on end could mean it was “tricky” to remember details because all the days were so similar.

“She might remember the general gist … But she could have issues with remembering specific details. However, with appropriate interviewing techniques, details can be retrieved as well from a memory.”

Dr Van Golde said research differed about how many interviews a child should be subjected to.

Cleo, 4, has been reunited with her family after 18 day apart. Picture: Facebook

“So in general, they often say that in trying not to repeat interviews too many times, however, depending on the child’s state, so how upset that she is it can be useful to not try to cram everything in one interview, but actually take it easy and divided up over multiple days. It then becomes super important to really use appropriate interviewing questions.”

WA Police had specially trained officers that used the same specific protocols that were used the worldwide in these situations and Dr Van Golde said that gave her confidence Cleo’s statement could be “very informative”.

“We see in general, just like with adults, some people have a better memory. Some people have worse memories, but we can expect her to recall details and quite specific details about what happened to her.”

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Originally published as Cleo Smith will be able to recall ‘specific’ details to help police, says psychologist