William Tyrrell’s foster parents appear in court
William Tyrrell’s foster parents have responded in court to a charge of assaulting a child who is not the missing toddler.
Police & Courts
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The foster parents of William Tyrrell have pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting a child who is not the missing toddler and will argue they should be dealt with under the Mental Health Act.
Magistrate Robyn Danes has banned the reporting of any evidence in the case after saying there may be innuendo that it was connected to three-year-old William’s disappearance.
“Or, that is, as child abusers they probably did it,” the magistrate said during a fiery hearing at Hornsby Local Court on Friday.
She said the non-publication orders over the evidence were necessary for the safety of the couple because she believed they were at “real risk of harm” and she said she could not understand the interest in the case.
Police have narrowed the focus of their inquiry in the Tyrrell investigation to the foster mother who was at the Kendall home of William’s foster nana when he was last seen in September 2014.
Police have also taken out an AVO against the foster parents in relation to the child but Magistrate Danes said there were hundreds of AVO cases heard in the local courts on any day and many involved allegations of violence against children or against children in care.
“What is not clear is why this matter is of such interest,” she said.
She said there had been relentless reporting of William’s disappearance even when there was nothing to report.
“The risk that (the foster parents) are seen as somehow connected to the disappearance of William Tyrrell based on innuendo or misplaced information is significant,” she said.
The Daily Telegraph and other media organisations had argued against the suppression of evidence in the interest of open justice but the foster parents successfully sought the non-publication orders.
Lawyers for the couple, who did not attend court, entered the not-guilty pleas.
Solicitor Sharon Ramsden, appearing for the woman, said they would be making an application under section 14 of the Mental Health Act which allows a person who is charged with a criminal offence and suffers from a mental health impairment or cognitive impairment to avoid a finding of guilt and a criminal record.
Counsel for the father foreshadowed making a similar application.
Police are preparing to reinterview the alleged child victim, the court was told.
The magistrate said the proceedings had become “antagonistic”, she had been sent volumes of material which she couldn’t read and she was making the same non-publication orders she had proposed to make on November 23 when the case first came before her.
“I feel like, again I will be quite frank, that I’m being dictated to by all the representatives.” she said.
The case was adjourned to February 22 as police wrapped up their four-week search for the missing toddler’s remains in bushland at Kendall on Wednesday, leaving behind a memorial that read ‘we will never give up’.
Dozens of exhibits including scraps of fabric and bones believed to belong to animals were collected during the operation with many still undergoing forensic analysis.
It is not yet known whether any of the items are relevant to the investigation but police did not have a clear breakthrough while on the Mid-North Coast.
“It was always going to be a needle in a haystack,” one police source said.
“Seven years is a long time in terms of finding something in those conditions.”
It’s a disappointing result for Strike Force Rosann, after Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett boldly said on November 15 he was “very hopeful that we can bring this matter to some sort of conclusion”.
Police have also come under scrutiny for publicly identifying William’s foster mother as a person of interest in the investigation into his disappearance.
“Obviously they think this is the best strategy to help them advance the investigation,” criminologist Dr Xanthe Mallett said.
Investigators will now brief Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame on their findings, with the inquest into William’s disappearance expected to resume early next year.
“A lot of resources were spent on the search but at least now that area can be excluded,” Dr Mallett said.
“I’m sure they would have also received a lot of information from the public as a result of the case being brought back to the public’s attention.”
Police declined to comment on the costs and resources associated with the latest search.
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