Schoolgirl’s mother denies killing daughter
The mother of slain schoolgirl Charlise Mutten has denied fatally shooting her daughter, asking Justin Stein’s lawyer “are you serious?” before breaking down and fleeing the courtroom.
Kallista Mutten, 40, asked to take a break after more than an hour of tense cross-examination from her former partner’s barrister on Tuesday morning.
Mr Stein is facing trial after pleading not guilty to murder, but has admitted to disposing of the schoolgirl’s body.
The 33-year-old is accused of murdering his former fiance’s daughter at a property owned by his parents before dumping her body, which was concealed in a plastic barrel, near the Colo River.
Prosecutors allege Mr Stein was the “last person” to see Charlise and had the opportunity to kill her between 7.16pm on January 11 and 10.06am on January 12.
He claims he saw Ms Mutten shoot her daughter at the family property on the night of January 12, after the couple spent the day together injecting ice and having sex at Sydney’s Centennial Park.
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?”
Under intense cross-examination from Carolyn Davenport SC, Ms Mutten became emotional when she was accused of shooting her daughter.
“You waited until you arrived back at the house and when you sent those messages, you had in fact shot and killed your daughter,” Ms Davenport asked.
Ms Mutten responded: “Are you serious?”
“I’m serious,” Ms Daveport said, to which Ms Mutten replied: “No”.
The barrister asked if Ms Mutten had shot her daughter “near the shed” on the property.
Ms Mutten again said: “No”.
“You shot her once in the back and once in the head,” Ms Davenport continued her questioning.
Ms Mutten grabbed a tissue and started to cry when she said she “didn’t even know” Charlise was shot with a gun.
“I don’t even know where she was shot, so now I know,” Ms Mutten said through tears.
Ms Davenport told the witness that Mr Stein claims he saw her “deliver the second shot”.
Ms Mutten turned away from the bar table before breaking down and said: “I need a moment, I’m sorry”.
“BELIEVE IN A HIGHER POWER”
Following the adjournment, the 40-year-old continued to deny the claims she followed Charlise down to the shed and shot her.
She denied claims from Ms Davenport that she took Mr Stein’s car the following morning to “do something with Charlise’s body”.
Ms Davenport suggested Ms Mutten had a conversation with Mr Stein on January 13 where she “made up the story with the auctioneer lady”.
“That was to cover up the fact that you killed Charlise,” Ms Davenport said.
Ms Mutten again replied: “No”.
“Then you added another layer to that by suggesting to him he could say the woman might have been associated with his co-offenders from his drug offence,” Ms Davenport continued, to which Ms Mutten again denied.
In response to a question about whether Ms Mutten believes in the “occult”, she told the court she believed in a “higher power”.
Ms Davenport asked: “Did the messages tell you to kill your daughter?”
“No,” Ms Mutten said.
“I LOVED HIM”
The jury was told Ms Mutten had spoken to police from hospital on January 21 where she told officers there was “not a lot of drug use at Mount Wilson” and Mr Stein was “not fond” with meth.
She told the jury she had lied to police to protect her former partner.
“I was trying to protect him...he told me not to tell anyone we were taking drugs,” Ms Mutten said.
Ms Davenport said at that point, Ms Mutten was told police had evidence to show he allegedly killed her daughter.
Ms Mutten replied: “I still in my heart believed what he told me was the truth”.
In her final questions, Ms Davenport told Ms Mutten she had “no reason to say anything to police that might protect Justin”.
“I loved him,” Ms Mutten said.
“Even though you were told he had been arrested and charged with the murder of your child?” Ms Davenport asked.
Ms Mutten told the jury she “really did” believe Mr Stein had left to search for her daughter and believed his story.
Earlier in the day, Ms Davenport told the court Mr Stein did not want to take ice, with the drug taking causing the pair to have arguments.
“He was not taking ice at that time,” Ms Davenport suggested, before continuing that he took ice when he first got together with Ms Mutten but stopped.
Ms Mutten responded: “if that’s what he tells you, yes”.
A letter was read to the court by Ms Davenport which was written from Mr Stein to his former partner.
In the letter, the jury heard Mr Stein wrote that it “breaks” his heart to see “where we have fallen and where I’ve dragged you down”.
“I can’t look at myself in the mirror...I can’t f**king eat or sleep, can barely walk outside without being anxious I could kill someone,” the letter read.
“All I end up doing is looking, thinking about you...I’m sorry and I’m dragging you down and it f**king kills me.”
Charlise was visiting her mother during the school holidays, and spent her time in NSW split between Mr Stein’s family property at Mount Wilson, where she was allegedly shot and killed, and at the Riviera Ski Gardens caravan park in Lower Portland about 1.5 hours away.
The trial continues.
WHAT PROSECUTORS/KALLISTA MUTTEN ALLEGE
Prosecutors allege Mr Stein was the “last person” to see Charlise and had the opportunity to kill her between 7.16pm on January 11 and 10.06am on January 12.
They say he left at 10.15am on January 12 and picked up Kallista Mutten from Riviera Ski Gardens.
Ms Mutten told court Mr Stein bought ice, then they travelled to Centennial Park where they both injected ice and had sex.
When they arrived at Mount Wilson at 8.44pm, the lights were off and no one was home. Ms Mutten called local hospitals to see if her daughter was there.
On January 13, she and Mr Stein had a fight over cheating allegations, and he also made claims his "ex-affiliations" may have kidnapped Charlise.
Mr Stein left at 4pm and bought 100kg of sand, which prosecutors allege he put in the barrel with Charlise's body.
Ms Mutten called police at 8.45am on January 14.
Charlise's body was discovered on January 18.
WHAT JUSTIN STEIN ALLEGES
Mr Stein initially told police he travelled back to Mount Wilson on the evening of January 11 with Charlise and woke the following morning to find she had vomited, sending Ms Mutten a text message about it.
His barrister Carolyn Davenport SC alleged Mr Stein laid Charlise in the back of the ute and took her to Riviera Ski Gardens.
She also alleged he only bought marijuana and did not inject ice.
She alleged Ms Mutten shot her daughter twice near the chicken shed at the Mount Wilson property, then asked Mr Stein to "get a tarpaulin" but disappeared before he returned.
When Mr Stein left at 4pm on January 13, he claimed he was travelling to the caravan park to "do some work", before receiving a call from Ms Mutten while at Bunnings saying Charlise was in the back of the car.
He claims he "panicked" and drove around Sydney before eventually dumping the barrel with Charlise's body in the early hours of January 14.
