Charlise Mutten’s brutal murder ‘akin to an execution’: court

The slaying of a schoolgirl by her mother’s partner was “akin to an execution”, a court has been told.

Justin Stein murdered Charlise Mutten.

WARNING: Distressing content

A young schoolgirl killed by her mother’s ex-partner in NSW’s rugged Blue Mountains in an horrific point-blank shooting was slain in an act “almost akin to an execution”, a court has been told.

Justin Stein, 33, was found guilty by a jury of murdering nine-year-old Charlise Mutten in 2022 following a mammoth weeks-long trial in the NSW Supreme Court earlier this year.

The body of Charlise, daughter of Stein’s ex-fiancee Kallista Mutten, was located by police near the Colo River, northwest of Sydney, with close-range gunshot wounds to her face and lower back.

The jury, after two weeks of deliberation, rejected Stein’s version of events in which he admitted to dumping the schoolgirl’s body but claimed it was Ms Mutten who shot her daughter.

Returning to court on Friday, Justice Helen Wilson described Charlise’s killing as being “almost akin to an execution” as police called for Stein to receive a prison sentence of life without parole.

Ms Wilson said on the evidence that it could be inferred Stein raised the rifle at Charlise, who turned to escape before being shot in the hip, shattering her pelvis and knocking her to the ground.

The court was told Stein walked up to the child and discharged a second round after rechambering the rifle at just 30cm and into Charlise’s face, a shot that likely proved fatal.

Justin Stein was found guilty of killing Charlise Mutten.

In his submissions, Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC argued that should be handed a “mandatory life sentence”, meaning he would not be granted parole and stay behind bars.

He told the court that Stein would continue to pose a threat to the community should he be released, had gone to “great lengths to avoid responsibility” and even blamed Charlise’s mother.

Conversely, Stein’s lawyer Caroyln Davenport SC told the court tthat he should receive a standard non-parole period of 25 years, arguing the killing was “not a worst-case scenario”.

“Whatever way you look at it, he is going to be in his nearly 60s or older when he comes out of prison, so he is going to be a very different person than is revealed in his criminal history,” she said.

Ms Davenport added that in 25 years there had been only one child murderer handed a life sentence and “it would be cruel and unusual” to send “a person of 33 years to prison for the rest of his life”.

Fighting back tears, the young girl’s mother told the court on Friday morning that Charlise “longed for a dad and she trusted in my judgment and I hate myself for being so wrong” about Stein.

Kallista Mutten (right) told the court she may never have answers. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“My trust and security has been taken and I have to live with the fact I trusted someone with my daughter and because of my trust in someone I put my daughter in harm’s way,” Ms Mutten said.

Appearing via AVL, Ms Mutten described her daughter as a “kind, smart, and good child” who was a veracious reader and whose former school had named an annual award in her honour.

Breaking down, she described the pair’s nightly phone calls and how her daughter was her “biggest fan”, and the enthusiasm the young girl had when she was told she was going to be a sister.

“She was going to come live with me, and now I can’t even speak to her. She was the only person I told I was pregnant and she was so stoked that she was going to be a sister,” Ms Mutten said.

Ms Mutten went on to add: “Charlise had plans of teaching her sibling to read and she would have been a good older sister. The chance of being a sister was also taken from her.

“I lost everything, not only my daughter but my family and the future I thought was complete. All of this was taken from me in one day. My life will never be the same. It’s overwhelming”.

Clinton Mutten, the grandfather of Charlise Mutten, said she was a ‘special girl’: Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard

Ms Mutten said all she wanted was “to know why, but I don’t think I’ll ever get that and I will never know”, and she was blindsided by Stein’s accusations she was the child’s killer.

“This made me look like I was covering for you but I trusted in you and our relationship. I am not able to meet new people because of all the allegations made against me,” she said, directing her comments to Stein.

“To stand in court and be told I murdered my daughter is one of the most horrific experiences I've ever had to deal with, I couldn't breathe … You took away Charlise and my future as a mother.”

Charlise’s grandfather, Clinton Mutten, told the court that the ringing of school bells heard from their home on the Gold Coast reminded them of the “special young girl who aspired to be a vet”.

“She loved animals and wanted to help … an aspiration that can now never be as it has been taken away from us, an aspiration that we would have done everything in our power to make the reality.

“This failure to protect Charlie’s is something that will haunt our consciences for the rest of our life and causes much sadness, emotional stress, depression and, at times, suicidal thoughts.

“Did Charlise call out mine or anyone else’s name in a vain call for help before her life was taken? These are questions that will never be answered and a burden I will carry the rest of my life.”

Stein will return before the court on Monday for sentencing.