A magistrate’s finding that William Tyrrell’s former foster mother was not guilty of intimidating another child could be challenged by prosecutors.
The foster parents, who cannot be legally named, have appealed the convictions and severity of sentences they were handed for the assault and intimidation of a child who is not William.
In March, Magistrate Susan McIntyre found that the mother’s threats to slap the child amounted to intimidation.
The woman earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of assault after striking the child with a wooden spoon and kicking them on the thigh.
The foster father also intimidated the youngster on one occasion while driving to school, when the child was heard crying and sobbing.
McIntyre cleared the foster mother of five counts of intimidation and dismissed one charge against the foster father of assaulting the child.
The pair were convicted and handed 12-month good-behaviour bonds.
The Crown had filed an application for an extension of time to consider its own appeal of the woman’s acquittal on the intimidation charges, a prosecutor told Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court yesterday.
However, a final decision about whether an appeal would be brought has not been made.
The matters have been adjourned until July 16, when a hearing date will be set down.
The development came one day ahead of William’s birthday, which falls on Wednesday.
The missing youngster would be due to turn 13.
The cases against the couple are heavily suppressed, meaning that their names and other identifying details have been hidden from the public eye.
Police prosecution of the pair relied on more than 1000 hours of covert recordings made in their home and vehicles over 14 months in 2020 and 2021.
The recordings were made by detectives investigating the disappearance of three-year-old William, who went missing while playing at his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast on September 12, 2014.
Police inquiries into whether the foster mother was involved in William’s disappearance have been paused until an inquest into his suspected death resumes.
Investigators had provided a brief for prosecutors to consider potential charges against the woman, who they believed might have disposed of William’s body after his accidental death.
She has always denied having anything to do with William’s disappearance.
No one has been charged in the case and a $1 million reward for information still stands.
