The abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith in 2021 has shaken Australia and the rest of the world. For 18 days, people from all over the world followed the disappearance, hoping for a happy outcome.
So the joy was enormous when the Australian police posted a video message on Facebook:
– It gives me great pleasure to say we saved Cleo. She is alive and well.
On Wednesday, the Perth Court sentenced the perpetrator, Terence Kelly, to 13 years and six months in prison, The Australian wrote. 9 news.
Pull it out of the tent
The little girl was on a camping trip with her parents and younger sister, when the convicted man opened the tent and dragged the four-year-old, who was sleeping in a sleeping bag, and drove 75 kilometers home. from the camp.
The parents, who slept with the two children, noticed nothing until the next day. Then the alarm sounded.
Kelly is high on methamphetamines and looking for items to steal from a campsite when he unzips the tent and sees the family asleep. The kidnapping must have happened spontaneously.
– I just wanted to hold her. He told police shortly after his arrest, “I didn’t plan on keeping her forever.”
Cry for the parents
The judge, Julie Wager, says Cleo was kept locked in a locked room in Kelly’s home for 18 days. The little girl cried a lot and asked again and again to go to her parents. According to the judge, it was mostly her mother’s request.
Kelly allegedly turned on the radio to drown out the sounds from the locked room. Then Cleo must have heard her name on the news.
Kelly explained that he got angry when Cleo cried or asked for chocolate. He tried to tie her with tape, but failed because Cleo fought back fiercely.
Kelly was seen in the local community several times during the 18 days the whole country was busy with the kidnapping case. Then the four-year-old was left to himself for several hours.
The incident was shocking to Cleo and her family. The parents did not know if she was dead or alive, and promised a reward of approximately NOK 6.3 million for information in the case.
At this time, Kelly came across Cleo’s mother, Ellie Smith, on Facebook and watched as she pleaded for help to find her daughter.
It was Kelly’s neighbors who noticed the mysterious diaper purchase and alerted the police. When the police swoop in, they find the girl and soon realize Cleo is the one missing.
Kelly has been diagnosed with severe personality disorder and several other psychiatric diagnoses, which may have stemmed from a traumatic childhood where he was abandoned by his parents at the age of two.
Fantasy world
It is said that he longed for a family, and his apartment was full of dolls.
Wager claims that Kelly created a fantasy world where he created Facebook profiles for his fictional children. He actually lived alone.
Cleo’s parents are happy with this conviction.
– I think we will always be angry, but we are satisfied that he is convicted and he will be in prison for a long time, Ellie Smith tells 9News.
According to Australian media, Kelly, who was sentenced to 13.5 years in prison, could be released in 2033.
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