Mother of suspected killer takes stand

The mother of suspected killer Justin Stein has been summoned by prosecutors to testify against her son, accused of killing schoolgirl Charlise Mutten and dumping her body in a barrel.

Justin Stein, 33, is on trial after pleading not guilty to murder but admitted disposing of the schoolgirl's body.

The 33-year-old is accused of murdering his former fiancée's daughter, Kallista Mutten, on a property owned by her parents before dumping her body, hidden in a plastic barrel, near the Colo River.

But he claims he saw Ms Mutten shoot her daughter on the family property on the night of January 12, after the couple spent the day together injecting ice and having sex at Sydney's Centennial Park. Ms. Mutten denied shooting her daughter.

Prosecutors called Annemie Stein as their next witness Thursday morning.

She entered the court wearing patterned pants and a long black coat.

Annemie told the court that Charlise was a “very polite” girl, but also “a bit cheeky”.

She was questioned about phone calls with her son in the days before Charlise's disappearance, telling the court she did not remember those conversations.

Questioned by Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC, he read out a conversation Annemie had with a police officer on the morning of January 14 at the Mount Wilson property.

“You said, 'Well, apparently this woman came up in an SUV and Justin, I said, did you get her name, and he said her name was Lauren or something, I don't remember now,'” Mr McKay read to the court.

“The policeman told you… 'you wouldn't let a nine-year-old go off with a stranger'.”

The jury heard that Annemie told her son he would know if a saleswoman came to the house, “so why would you let someone into the house you don't know?”

Mr Stein's mother was also questioned about text messages she shared with her son on the night of January 13, when he was allegedly driving around Sydney with Charlise's body in the back of his SUV.

Mr Stein is accused of killing the girl between 7.16pm on January 11 and 10.06am on January 12, telling Ms Mutten that Charlise felt “destroyed” and that an estate agent was looking after the house during his departure.

The court heard he told the same alleged lie to police and his mother.

It is alleged Mr Stein claimed he was looking for the nine-year-old girl as he tried to dispose of the girl's body.

He left the property around 4pm on January 13, with a tarpaulin-covered barrel in the back of his Holden Colorado and towing his boat.

While he was away, Mr Stein had lied to his mother, claiming he was “camping out in the car watching” Charlise in a text.

Annemie was questioned about the texts exchanged with her son and told the court: “All I remember is that it was Kallista's ex-boyfriend.”

Although she told the court she did not remember most of the calls, she admitted she “definitely” remembered a phone call she had with Mr Stein on the night of January 12.

“I don't know who called who…he said he had picked up Kallista and Charlise from the caravan park and they were back at Mount Wilson and I wasn't happy about that at all” , Annemie told the jury.

“He just said 'mom, relax, it's just for one night, tomorrow I'm taking them to Kallista's friends'.”

She told the court she heard someone in the background shouting “Narelle, it's only one night”.

When Mr McKay asked her who that voice was, she replied that it was “cheeky”.

“As far as I know it was cheeky, the way it was said was cheeky, so to me it was the little girl,” she said, referring to Charlise.

In her testimony this week, Ms Mutten told the jury that Mr Stein told her Charlise woke up vomiting in the early hours of January 12 and left her in the care of an auctioneer before leaving spend the day together.

The two men spent the day injecting ice and having sex, before the jury heard they returned to the Mount Wilson property around 8:44 p.m. and found no one there. the House.

The jury heard Mr Stein claim he left around 4pm on January 13 looking for Charlise, but prosecutors allege he dumped the barrel with Charlise's body.

The barrel containing Charlise's body was found on January 18, 2022, after police attended the scene after checking Mr Stein's phone.

The trial continues.