Charlise Mutten’s alleged killer claimed the nine-year-old screamed,“Mummy,no” before she was shot for a second time by her mother,a Sydney jury has heard.
Prison calls between Justin Laurens Stein and his mother Annemie Stein were played at his NSW Supreme Court trial on Tuesday. The 33-year-old has pleaded not guilty to Charlise’s murder,,but admits he disposed of the body.
Charlise Mutten was allegedly murdered by her mother’s fiance,Justin Stein.Supplied
Charlise was visiting her mother and Stein when she vanished from his family’s estate at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains. Her body was found with two gunshot wounds in a barrel by the Colo River on January 18,2022.
The court has heard Stein was arrested and charged that night. In a February 2022 prison call,the court heard Annemie Stein said to her son,“Please don’t tell me she was killed at Mount Wilson.”
Stein replied:“She was,but not on the property. It was on Crown land behind the shed,on the fire break.”
Asked by his mother what the girl was doing there,Stein said he was “guessing she ran down”.
“The last thing she screamed was my name,and then you heard,‘Mummy,no,’ and then the second gunshot,” he said.
Asked why Charlise’s mother would do that,Stein said Kallista Mutten was “three days deep into the ice bender”.
Annemie Stein said she “just can’t work out the barrel”,and why he had been travelling with it.
Her son replied that it was Kallista Mutten’s “doing”,and his partner had put it on the back of his Holden Colorado utility.
Justin Stein allegedly drove his red ute across Sydney with the body of Charlise Mutten in a barrel in the tray.NSW Police
“I’m literally at Bunnings,and I get a phone call,and she says ‘no,you’ve got Charlise with you’,” he said,according to the call.
“I was driving around with a f---ing kid on the back of my ute.”
The court heard Stein told his mother he had “panicked”.
In another call,he said Kallista Mutten was “going to get charged for everything,that’s the truth”.
“They can’t even pin me for murder,” he said. “I know what happened,I saw it happen.”
In the calls,Stein said Kallista Mutten had “paranoia” and recalled her taking apart a suitcase handle thinking it was bugged.
He said he didn’t want contact with his partner,adding,“I want to cut her f---ing head off”.
‘I ran back,and she shot her again’
The court also heard on Tuesday from two prison guards who spoke with Stein after he was charged.
One female officer said that on January 19,2022,she had asked Stein,“Did you do it?” and he said,“No.”
She said Stein told her,“Her mum shot her twice”.
“Her mum was on ice all week,I heard a shot,then I heard her screaming out for me,then I ran back,and she shot her again,” Stein said,according to the prison guard.
“I keep having flashbacks. I’m not going down for this,I didn’t do it,I’m stuck here with these charges … I’m not going down for that bitch”.
She said Stein said he had been “trying to tell people this for days and no one will listen” and thanked her for letting him “vent”. The jury has previously heard Stein,the day Charlise was reported missing by her mother.
A male prison officer said he spoke with Stein on January 20 and 21,and the accused said he was looking forward to “clearing my name at court”.
“I saw her mum shoot her,and I keep replaying it in my head,” Stein said,according to the guard.
The court heard the male guard told Stein he might serve jail time if he was involved,and Stein replied that he accepted that,but “I don’t understand why I’m charged with murder.”
He said Stein,on a number of occasions,said,“I didn’t pull the trigger” and “I wasn’t the one”.
Accused killer’s fingerprint found on gun
The court heard police spoke with Stein’s mother on February 17,2022,during which she was shown photographs of two firearms that had been excavated from a Mount Wilson fire trail.
Police were alerted to the location after a wildflower enthusiast came across an area “covered over with branches” during a walk on January 30,and thought it was “odd”.
The officer in charge of the investigation,Detective Sergeant Bradley Gardiner,said police were able to identify the two firearms recovered as those stolen by Stein and Kallista Mutten from a Mount Wilson home in August 2021 due to the descriptions and serial numbers provided.
He said Annemie Stein said she had not seen the guns and was informed they had been forensically examined,and her son’s fingerprint was identified on the BSA .22 calibre bolt-action rifle.
In a prison call on March 21,2022,which was played to the jury,Justin Stein told his mother “I need you to retrieve some stuff in the mountains”.
He said he had “borrowed certain things” from a friend,and “kind of dumped them in the bush”.
His mother replied,“I think they’ve found them ... they showed me photographs.”
Asked during the recorded call what she had seen,Annemie Stein told her son:“Well,I’m not going to say over the phone,am I?”
The trial continues before Justice Helen Wilson.