Kiesha's stepdad appeals sentence
The man who left six-year-old Kiesha Weippeart to die then helped burn and bury her body is attempting to have his sentence reduced on the grounds he helped put her murderer mother behind bars.
Robert Smith was jailed for at least 12 years in May 2013, 18 months after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his six-year-old stepdaughter and being an accessory after her murder.
He is appealing against the length of his sentence on the grounds that alleged assistance he gave to the crown's case against Kiesha's mother, Kristi Abrahams, was not taken into consideration at sentencing.
Barrister Philip Strickland SC told the NSW Criminal Court of Appeal that Smith had helped investigators before Abraham's planned murder trial after his sentence, and the Supreme Court judge who sentenced him could not have taken it into account.
Mr Strickland said on Wednesday it was clear the existence of a statement by Smith to police "materially contributed" to Abrahams' last-minute decision to plead guilty to murder.
"What you have is on the 12th of June (2013), Ms Abrahams is told 'Mr Smith is going to plead guilty. These are the probative and damaging things to your case', and following that she changed her plea," Mr Strickland said.
Abrahams was sentenced to at least 16 years jail.
Jennie Girdham SC, appearing for the crown, said the suggestion Abrahams had pleaded guilty because of Smith's willingness to testify was "speculative".
The police officer who led the investigation into Kiesha's death has given an affidavit questioning the usefulness of Smith's evidence, which he said was "internally inconsistent".
But Mr Strickland said even if a statement by Smith "contains a mixture of truth and lies, assuming the truth is of some significance, that does not warrant a finding that there should be no discount".
Smith and Abrahams were charged over Kiesha's death after they reported her missing from their western Sydney home.
Smith admitted to an undercover police officer he had found the girl unconscious and attempted to revive her before going to work the next day.
The girl was dead when he returned.
Kiesha's body was left in a suitcase for close to a week before the couple burnt it and buried it in a shallow bushland grave.
Her parents were charged on what would have been Kiesha's seventh birthday after the discovery of her remains.
The court will deliver its decision at a later date.
