‘Slap you across the face’: Tyrrell foster mother’s warning to child

The moment William Tyrrell’s foster mother kicked and threatened to ‘slap’ a young child has been played in court as part of a series of secret police recordings.

William Tyrrell’s foster mother can be heard kicking and threatening to “slap” a young child on secret recordings made by police as part of their investigation into the missing toddler, a court has heard.

The missing boy’s foster mother has pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a child, who is not William, however is fighting a string of other charges at Parramatta Local Court.

The court has heard that police began monitoring the foster parents through surveillance devices as part of Strike Force Rosann, which was set up to investigate William’s disappearance.

The foster mother, 58, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of intimidation against the same young child, who cannot be identified.

William’s foster father, 56, has also pleaded not guilty to one count of common assault and one count of intimidation.

Over the course of the hearing, the court was played a series of recordings from inside their home, car and from police telephone wire taps.

The court was previously played a sound recording in which the woman smacked the child with a wooden spoon.

William Tyrrell’s foster parents. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper.

In one recording from May 26, played to the court on Wednesday, the woman warns the young child about “throwing” items around the house.

“That won’t be the only thing that gets thrown around,” she says.

“You only seem to listen when I threaten to get violent.”

Several weeks later in July 2021, the woman warned the child about her attitude.

“I’m going to slap you across the face,” the woman says.

She further adds: “Do you want to do that?”

“No,” the child says.

“You are pushing me big time,” the foster mother says.

William Tyrrell disappeared from his foster grandmother’s house in Kendall. Picture: Supplied.

On October 20, 2021, a recording from inside the home captured a loud bang before the child could be heard crying out in pain.

“She kicked me,” the child cries out, before saying that she was going to kick another person in the house.

“Now you know how it feels, do you want to make that decision again,” the mother says.

“Now be quiet and sit there.

“It’s okay for you to do it but it’s not okay for someone to do it for you.”

William was only three years old when he vanished from his foster grandmother’s house at Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast on September 12, 2014.

The case has become one of the state’s most notable cold cases and after hearings before a coroner and nine years, the mystery remains unsolved.

No one has been charged over William’s disappearance and suspected death, and his foster parents have continued to deny any wrongdoing.

The hearing before magistrate Susan McIntyre continues.