Justin Stein was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of schoolgirl Charlise Mutten. He shot the student in the face and then threw her body into a barrel.
Judge Helen Wilson delivered the verdict at the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney, where a thin and nervous-looking Stein appeared in person.
Judge Wilson said 33-year-old Stein was “completely unrepentant” and showed “no humanity or morality.” He described the shooting as “unspeakably cruel and murderous.”
“These were deliberate acts and the second shot was an execution shot. He undertook these acts with the intent to kill her,” she said, “he wanted to blame Charlise’s mother for his own indecent behavior.”
“Charlise was not just a child, she was a very young child… at nine years and five months.”
“Charlise called the perpetrator ‘Daddy’. This crime represents a blatant breach of trust.”
“She must have been in a state of extreme drowsiness and even less able to defend herself and flee from danger.”
Judge Wilson called Stein’s allegedly tearful account of Charlise’s death during the trial “false” and said the tissue he used was dry.
Justin Stein is convicted of murdering nine-year-old Charlise Mutten (above in December 2021, on her last Christmas) and then dumping her body in a barrel
Justin Stein shot Charlise Mutten in the face after drugging her and then dumped her body in a barrel in the bush
“From where I was sitting, I could clearly see that his eyes were completely dry and he did not shed a single tear,” Judge Wilson said.
The verdict came after prosecutors had called for a life sentence without parole for the gunshot murder, which the judge described as “tantamount to an execution.”
Judge Wilson warned the court on Monday that her ruling would contain “troubling” elements.
“He shot Charlise twice with a stolen gun,” she said. “One injury to the left side of her lower back or pelvic area, the other to the right side of her face.”
“Charlise was wearing black tracksuit bottoms and a black skirt when the projectile penetrated the garments.
The wound is consistent with Charlise turning away from the perpetrator.
Charlise was alive and would have survived this injury.
“The projectile struck directly under Charlise’s right cheekbone… causing extensive facial fractures.”
The bullet penetrated the interior of the skull, where the brain is located.
“I am convinced… the stolen gun was the gun used to murder Charlise.”
“The muzzle of the gun was held very close to Charlise’s face. The perpetrator was standing in front of Charlise.”
Stein was convicted of the fatal shooting of nine-year-old Charlise in January 2022 in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, where the primary school student from Tweed Heads was holidaying with Stein and her mother.
Judge Wilson said in sentencing last Friday that Charlise must have fallen to the ground after being shot in the back by Stein.
Stein then approached the child and fired again at point-blank range, 12 inches from his face, in what was “almost an execution,” Judge Wilson said.
Charlise’s mother, Kallista Mutten, burst into tears during the hearing and told her former fiancé: “I hate myself for trusting you.”
Ms Mutten read a victim’s statement via audio-video link. With a trembling voice, Mrs Mutten said to Stein: “(Charlise) simply wished that you were her father. I just hate myself for being so wrong about you.”
“I have to live with the fact that I trusted someone and because of that trust I put my daughter in danger.”
Justin Stein tried to blame Kallista Mutten (above with Charlise, on Christmas 2021) for the murder of her own daughter while under the influence of drugs
Stein was led into the courtroom on Friday and listened in silence as prosecutors demanded a life sentence for the murder.
Stein blinked rapidly and then closed his eyes for a few seconds. His legs trembled restlessly as he listened to the statements of Mrs. Mutten and her father.
“I won’t see her grow up, have her first boyfriend and get married,” said Charlise’s mother.
“More than anything, I miss being Charlise’s mom and hearing her say ‘I love you.'”
“Charlise was my biggest fan and always said I was the best mom in the world.”
Ms Mutten said that since her murder, Charlise had been harassed in public, verbally abused by people on public transport and that she had been so persecuted by the media that she could no longer go outside.
Only Charlise’s grandfather Clinton Mutten (above), who was the legal guardian of the nine-year-old together with his wife Deborah, appeared at Justin Stein’s sentencing
She said the last time she saw her, she told Charlise she was pregnant and the girl was looking forward to “being a big sister.”
Ms Mutten added: “My life will never be the same again.”
She said Charlise “loved being a nerd and reading books.”
The teenager was shot twice in Stein’s spacious family home in Mount Wilson between January 11 and 12, 2022, after she was pumped full of Stein’s schizophrenia medication, shot in the back and then through the right cheek at point-blank range.
Justin Stein buys sand at Bunnings to weigh down the barrel in which he placed Charlise’s body
In this barrel (above, in situ, with the remains of the little girl inside) detectives found Charlie’s body, which Stein had disposed of on the banks of the Colo River.
Stein has been behind bars since the day detectives found Charlise’s 73-pound body wrapped in a tarp, bound with duct tape and dumped headfirst in an industrial barrel on the banks of the Colo River, a week after the shooting.
During a five-week trial in May and June, he tried to blame Charlise’s mother, who was then a heavy intravenous methamphetamine user, for the murder of her own daughter.
The court heard that Kallista injected herself with massive amounts of ice – “17 points a day” – and suffered psychotic episodes during which she lay on the floor babbling and speaking incoherently.
But in a traumatic court testimony, she said she was not with Stein or Charlise the night the murder happened and believed his story that another woman was looking after her daughter.
On June 19, a jury found Justin Stein guilty of Charlise’s murder after 35 hours of deliberation over eight days.
Stein had already admitted to disposing of the body after police were shown CCTV footage showing him driving the tarpaulin-covered barrel through Sydney, collecting sand from Bunnings to weigh it down and then taking it to the river bank 100 kilometres north-west of Sydney.
Stein had claimed that after shooting her daughter, Ms. Mutten secretly placed Charlise’s body in the barrel and secured it to the back of his pickup truck without his knowledge.
But the jury didn’t believe him.
Stone drives out of the Lane Cove Tunnel, the barrel in the background is covered with a blue tarpaulin
Charlise Mutten at school in 2021, the last year of her short life, and the barrel she was placed in when Stein disposed of her body in January 2022
Ms Mutten denied any involvement in her daughter’s death and burst into tears when confronted with the accusation in court.
Stein appeared as the only witness for the defense in the trial and presented his version of events over two days.
Prosecutor Ken McKay said Stein gave Charlise his schizophrenic drug quetiapine “intentionally or … inadvertently”.
Stein denied giving Charlise the drug and said he was part of a plan by Charlie’s mother to cover up the murder, which included lying to police by claiming to have left the girl in the care of a fictitious woman who was appraising at the Mount Wilson estate.
Stein denied giving Charlise the drug and said he was part of a plan by Charlie’s mother to cover up the murder, which included lying to police by claiming to have left the girl in the care of a fictitious woman who was appraising at the Mount Wilson estate.
Detective Sergeant Bradley Gardiner testified at the trial that phone records showed Stein sent a text message to Kallista Mutten at 8.20pm on January 11, saying, “Hey buddy, sorry I left my phone in the car, was looking for it inside,” that he was “cooking chicken” and “charsey” was watching TV and playing with balloons.
On January 12 at 10:06 a.m., Stein sent his partner another message saying, “I’m just about to head out the door. Charsey is staying in bed.”
“She was devastated and had already fallen asleep again,” she said, then left Mount Wilson at 10:13 a.m. By that time, however, Charlise was already dead.
