William Tyrrell’s sister wants to be a detective, vows to find brother

William Tyrrell’s sister, 10, says she wants to be a detective, reducing those in court to tears following a determined address.

William Tyrrell’s sister says she wants to become a detective and find her brother. Picture: Supplied

William Tyrrell’s sister wants to be a detective when she grows up.

“And I will find my brother, and won’t give up until he’s found,” the little girl said, during a clear, confident and heart-rending address to the NSW Coroner’s Court on Thursday.

William’s 10-year-old sister was not present at the final day of the inquest into her brother’s disappearance, but she was determined to be heard and made a recording for Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame, which was played to the public gallery on a mobile phone.

She has not seen her brother since he disappeared from outside the house at 48 Benaroon Drive in the village of Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast on September 12, 2014.

She had been there, beside him on a low deck at the back of the house. She was head down, scribbling. He was running around in a Spider-Man suit, playing a game he called Daddy Tiger.

“Raar!” he said, as he ran around the corner of the house.

And then nothing. And there has been nothing for six years.

Everyone hoped some answers would be found during this inquest, which has cost millions of dollars and run for 19 months, but with hundreds of witnesses called and thousands of words of testimony given, William’s family, and the Australian community, is no closer to knowing what happened to William.

It’s a matter of intense interest in part because such crimes — a child apparently snatched at random — are so rare; and because he was in state care at the time of his disappearance.

William had two families: his biological parents, and his Nana, who has attended court every day; and his foster parents, who still have William’s sister in their care. Both families were permitted to make statements to court on Thursday, since the evidence is now complete.

The foster parents talked about their love for the boisterous boy who came to live with them when he was nine months old.

His biological family talked about the pain of not knowing what had happened to him, once he left their care.

But it was the words delivered by William’s sister that reduced the gallery to tears. He was so much fun, she said, and also so ­annoying.

And now she finds it hard to remember him.

Just recently, sobbing with grief, she told her foster mother that the memories of her brother were almost gone.

So she decided to write something about her unending love, and the colossal tragedy, in the hope that all was not forever lost.

“She wrote this on her own, she wrote it last night, she typed it out,” her foster mother said.

“I didn’t get to see it until this morning.”

She began by saying: “This is my brother we are talking about.”

She hoped her words would encourage all members of the Australian public, and the court, and the police force, to keep looking for William.

“I hope this speech makes you solve the case,” she said.

She said she has decided she wanted to “be a police officer, a detective specifically” so she could help look for him and solve this monstrous mystery.

She recalled how “we used to play Enchanted Forests” and go-carts, and Tigers, “but the day he disappeared, we lost everything”.

“I lost my innocent brother,” she said. “So please help my family but most of all me to find our precious William.”

His foster mother talked of the “empty car seat” in the back of the four-wheel drive as they headed back to Sydney without him.

She would walk past his room, where “William’s bed remained unslept in”.

“It’s hard to understand how the sun could continue to shine,” she said.

William’s sister “continued to ask where her brother was … she was deeply missing her best friend … and we had no answers.”

Their testimony was followed by a statement from William’s biological parents, read out by their lawyer, Michelle Swift. “He loved his father, and his father loved him,” she said.

Ms Grahame thanked all participants in the lengthy inquest, adding: “The investigation goes on.” The coronial findings will be handed down next June 18.