Central Coast child killer associated with minor when trying to pick up girlfriend at beach

The child murderer who stabbed a three-year-old girl to death associated with a naked infant at an Illawarra beach in breach of strict court orders, a judge has ruled.

A towel draped over 13-year-old SLD after being arrested for the murder of three-year-old Courtney Morley-Clarke on the Central Coast.

A child murderer associated with a naked child while trying to find a girlfriend at a beach in the Illawarra weeks after he was released from jail.

In 2002, the murderer, who can only be referred to as SLD given he was 13 at the time of the offence, was sentenced to more than 20 years behind bars for the callous killing of Courtney Morley-Clarke.

SLD snatched the sleeping girl from her bedroom on the Central Coast, before stabbing her in the heart and discarding her lifeless body down an embankment.

Within weeks of being released in 2023, SLD was arrested and charged with three counts of breaching an extended supervision order imposed on him by the NSW Supreme Court.

SLD, now 37, pleaded not guilty and faced a week-long trial in Wollongong District Court earlier this month before Judge William Fitzsimmons SC who handed down a guilty and two not guilty verdicts on Wednesday.

Courtney Morley-Clarke was three when she was murdered by SLD.

The key issue of the trial related to the term “associate” within a condition of the ESO which outlined how he must not associate with anyone under 18.

The compliance failure SLD was found guilty of, as well as the other two incidents, occurred in October 2023 at Bulli Beach, where the court heard the offender approached three women who were all with a child under the age of five.

A Corrective Services NSW department supervising officer (DSO) testified how the accused would have to submit requests to be allowed to go to locations including Macarthur Square, Campbelltown Library and, in this case, Bulli Beach.

The supervising officer said SLD was obsessed with finding a woman to date, with the court hearing he “would approach at least one woman and ask them on a date” each time he was allowed in public.

The incidents occurred at Bulli Beach in October, 2023.

The court heard SLD, who was being monitored by a rookie support worker, approached a woman and child at a toddler pool, before approaching a mother showering sand off her infant and another woman cradling a child.

A corrections officer, who was off-duty, told the court he noticed the “large male with reading glasses” due to him sporting an ankle monitor and watched him interact with the second and third woman.

The mother showering her infant was the only women who gave evidence and it was this interaction which Judge Fitzsimmons ruled involved SLD associating with a child.

The court heard SLD asked the woman how old the child was and if he was “speaking yet” to which the mother responded: “He’s just babbling at the moment.”

SLD asked: “Has he got chickenpox? I thought they would have eradicated them by now,” before going on to ask “is dad around?” with the woman responding “yes”.

Police at Point Clare on the Central Coast after the murder committed by SLD in 2001.

On Wednesday, Judge Fitzsimmons, in a precedent-setting determination, found SLD did not associate with the first and third child, but did associate with the second through his mother given the infant was the topic of the conversation.

“He freely and voluntarily engaged in further conversation [about the child who] would have been obviously a toddler-aged child,” the judge said.

“He deliberately chose to comment on the child’s physical appearance while the child was unable to interact with the accused.”

Judge Fitzsimmons found there was conflicting evidence regarding the other two interactions and noted being physically close to a child did not mean he was necessarily associating with them.

“I do not accept being in near proximity is associating with a child,” he said.

“[The court had previously heard] he had been in a retail gaming shop where children were present and engaging in the same activity.”

During the trial, the court heard SLD also approached a Bulli Beach Cafe worker and asked: “Are you old enough to date?”

The woman told him she was 25 before he commented she looked “incredibly young”.

She told the court SLD discussed just being released from prison and wanting to lose his virginity.

The woman told the accused she was a lesbian and he replied “congratulations”. She claimed SLD said he was “socially awkward” and “didn’t know how to talk to people”.

The trial was heard at Wollongong District Court before Judge William Fitzsimmons SC.

The court viewed police bodycam footage of officers arriving at the beach where SLD said: “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“[The off-duty corrections officer] has seen I’ve got [an ankle monitor] on and he thought I am a pedophile. I am not a pedophile. I murdered a child, I am not allowed around them, I understand that.”

An officer replied: “As long as you understand your conditions and keep up with them.”

“I was 13, I am not that 13-year-old kid anymore,” SLD said.

The court heard SLD will appear in Wollongong Local Court on Thursday for a hearing after pleading not guilty to intimidating a witness – namely the off-duty corrections officer.

SLD will be sentenced in December after the local court matter is finalised.

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