Alleged killer Justin Stein gave his final message to the jury who is set to decide his fate in a matter of days: “I never killed Charlise”.
After more than 40 witnesses, Mr Stein’s murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court has entered its final stages.
Mr Stein was the only witness called in the defence case, with all evidence concluding on Tuesday and closing arguments set to begin.
The 33-year-old is accused of murdering Charlise Mutten, the daughter of his former fiancee Kallista Mutten, at a property owned by his parents before dumping her body, which was concealed in a plastic barrel, near the Colo River.
He has pleaded not guilty to murder but admits to disposing of the nine-year-old’s body.
In his final grilling by Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC, Mr Stein denied all allegations against him.
“Truth was you had killed Charlise Mutten,” the prosecutor said.
Mr Stein responded: “No, I never killed Charlise”.
Mr McKay made multiple suggestions that Mr Stein had made up lies under a pretense he was searching for Charlise on the night of January 13, but was actually looking for somewhere to dispose of the girl’s body.
“I will suggest to you that when you told Kallista Mutten that Charlise had been left with a woman, you did that because you knew you had killed Charlise Mutten and you had to in some way explain why she’s missing,” the prosecutor said.
Mr Stein responded to all allegations: “No”.
Charlise had travelled to Sydney from Tweed Heads on December 21, 2021, and spent her time split between Mr Stein’s family property at Mount Wilson, where she was allegedly killed, and at the Riviera Ski Gardens caravan park in Lower Portland about 90 minutes away.
Prosecutors allege Mr Stein was the “last person” to see Charlise and had the opportunity to kill her between 7.16pm on January 11 and 10.06am on January 12.
In her evidence, Ms Mutten said Mr Stein told her Charlise woke up vomiting in the early hours of January 12 and left her in the care of a female auctioneer before leaving to spend the day together.
According to Ms Mutten, the pair spent the day injecting ice and having sex, before the jury heard they arrived back at the Mount Wilson property about 8.44pm to find no-one home.
The barrel with Charlise’s body was found on January 18, 2022, after police went to the location as a result of going through Mr Stein’s phone.
Mr Stein became emotional on Monday as he told the jury he saw Ms Mutten shoot her daughter on the night of January 12. Ms Mutten denies the claims.
The trial before Justice Helen Wilson continues.