Terence Kelly was charged with snatching Cleo Smith in the early hours of October 16 from the Blowholes campsite, where she was on holiday with her family
Cleo Smith was found safe and well (
Image: WA Police)
A man accused of snatching four-year-old Cleo Smith in Australia has pleaded guilty to abducting her in a shock twist.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, had earlier appeared before a magistrate in Carnarvon charged with forcibly taking a child under 16.
He was charged with snatching Cleo in the early hours of October 16 from the Blowholes campsite, where she was on holiday with her family.
She was later found alive and well by officers who raided Kelly’s home.
Kelly, via video link from the high-security prison Casuarina Prison in Perth, admitted his guilt as he appeared before Carnarvon Magistrates Court.
According to reports the case will now be transferred to the West Australian District Court in Perth, where he is likely to be sentenced at a later date.
He is yet to enter a plea to other charges he faces.
It comes after police raided Kelly’s home in the early hours before discovering four-year-old Cleo alive and well two weeks after she went missing.
The house was just 3 km (2 miles) from her family home, Australian media said at the time.
Police went on to release an audio recording of their entry into the house and the discovery of the girl in a room.
“We’ve got her. We’ve got her,” an officer could be heard saying.
After being asked her name a few times, the toddler answered, “My name is Cleo”.
She had been playing with dolls with the light on at the time, police said.
After meeting her family, state Premier Mark McGowan said Cleo was a “very bright, upbeat, sweet little girl” and looked “very well adjusted”, considering her ordeal.
Police said at the time the abduction appeared to have been opportunistic.
“She is physically OK. That was evident from the start,” said state police homicide squad Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine, who was one of four people to rescue the child.
Police previously said it appeared to have been an opportunistic crime
(
Image:
Getty Images)
“Taking her to the hospital we got assurance of that from people that know what they are doing.”
A team of 140 people had been working on the case with police fielding more than 1,000 tips from the public.
More than 100 people at the site she first went missing were interviewed, and police carried out extensive searches by land and air.
Det Supt Wilde said that police had previously responded to around 200 possible sightings of Cleo around the country but none turned out to be her.
Officers were seen trawling through bins in the area in the hope of finding discarded clues in the days after she vanished.
Read More
Read More