Some crimes are too depressingly common, missing children among them. But, every now and then, for whatever reason, a particular crime grips the public imagination. One such case in Australia was the disappearance of William Tyrell.
Nearly 10 years ago, the three-year-old disappeared from his foster grandmother’s home and has never been found. Something about the lively little boy in his Spider-Man costume rocketed the case to the top of the headlines.
Now, just one day after what would have been his 12th birthday, detectives are recommending charges be laid against his foster mother.
Detectives believe there is enough evidence to charge William Tyrrell’s foster mother with interfering with a corpse and perverting the course of justice over the disappearance of the toddler in 2014.
In the most significant development in the nine-year case, NSW Police have provided a brief of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions recommending the charges against the foster mother, following what they suspect was three-year-old Tyrrell’s accidental death before his body was disposed of.
Police sometimes seek support from the DPP to lay charges, and can provide their own recommendations on the evidence gathered.
The DPP could still provide advice that there is not enough evidence to bring any charges against the foster mother, who cannot be named.
The Australian
The foster parents have always denied any involvement. Police apparently suspect they know more than they’ve let on.
Detectives have been investigating allegations there was a deadly accident at a home in Kendall, on the NSW Mid North Coast, in 2014 and the then-three-year-old’s body was disposed of by his foster mother.
9News
Last year, after police had made stunning claims that the foster mother was a “person of interest”, a senior detective claimed the woman knew where the missing boy was buried.
A court was told the NSW Crime Commission grilled the foster mother in a secret hearing over allegations she disposed of William’s body after he fell from a balcony at his foster grandmother’s home. Detective Sergeant Andrew Lonergan, from the Tyrrell strike force, told the court he had formed the view that the foster mother “knew where William Tyrrell is” […]
The court heard police told the foster mother “we know why, we know how” William disappeared and his body was disposed of
The Australian
The latest development comes after the foster mother was acquitted of a charge of lying to the Crime Commission about hitting a different foster child with a wooden spoon. The magistrate said she could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that the foster mother had willingly lied to the commission.
It’s not the only legal charges the foster family currently face.
The foster father of William Tyrrell will fight the allegation he lied to the NSW Crime Commission at the end of the year after the matter was pushed back until after he fights assault charges, a court has been told.
The 55-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of lying or misleading NSW Crime Commission officials and was due to face a hearing in March.
The commission was examining William’s disappearance.
Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court was on Monday told the hearing would have to be pushed back until he faced a different hearing at Parramatta Local Court.
The Australian
But, if the case of William Tyrell remains so far unsolved, other tragic cases, like that of 12 year old Tiahleigh Palmer, would seem to show that the foster system in Australia is in dire need of a rehaul.