The lack of direct evidence from a child who missing toddler William Tyrrell’s former foster father is accused of intimidating has been described as a “big hole” in the case against him.
The man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is appealing a conviction for intimidation over an incident involving a separate child, who at the time was 11 years old.
During an argument while dropping the girl to school in November 2020, the man screamed and berated her as she sobbed uncontrollably.
But during a brief hearing in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court today, Judge Sean Grant noted when the girl gave evidence in the case’s initial hearings she was not asked how she felt during the incident.
“That’s a big hole in the crown case,” he said.
Instead, the prosecution relied on covert recordings made by detectives investigating William’s disappearance, who had tapped the couple’s home and vehicles.
William was three years old when he went missing while playing at his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast on September 12, 2014.
No one has ever been charged over his disappearance, although police have aired a theory that his foster mother disposed of his body after his accidental death.
The woman, who denies having anything to do with William’s disappearance, is also appealing convictions for two counts of intimidation over separate incidents in which she threatened to slap the same child.
In the recordings, the man could be heard yelling from the car at the girl to “shut the front door” and “move, f—ing move”.
“I’m done with this family. I’m out, this is f—ing ridiculous,” the man said as the girl was heard sobbing.
“F—ing stupid little s— You do this every day.”
As the girl continued to cry, the man accused her of talking to him and the foster mother “so bloody rudely”.
“We’ve done nothing to you. All we’ve done is support you,” he said.
“We feed you, we house you, you treat us like s—.”
The foster father’s barrister, Phillip English, said the words were that of an “exasperated parent” who had no intention of intimidating the girl.
“He wanted her to … get into the car so he could get her to school and get to work,” English said.
However, the prosecution argued a person could be both an exasperated parent and commit an offence of intimidation within the same interaction.
That day at school, the girl told a teacher, who noticed she was upset, that the man yelled at her and she didn’t want to go home.
“It seemed like a trivial disagreement with a care giver from what she said to me,” the teacher later said during her testimony.
Over the course of 14 months in 2020 and 2021, police made more than 1000 hours of covert recordings in the couple’s home and vehicles.
A decision will be delivered on the foster father’s appeal on February 17, with a hearing due to take place in the foster mother’s matter at a later date.
