Detectives waiting to speak to ‘hard to approach’ mother of schoolgirl killed in Blue Mountains

Detectives have still not spoken to the mother of a schoolgirl whose body was found inside a barrel because she’s under guard at a hospital and ‘hard to approach’.

The nine-year-old’s body was found on Tuesday night in scrub near the Colo River – an hour from where she disappeared on a private property in Mount Wilson, in the NSW Blue Mountains.

Police revealed in a press conference on Wednesday they’d used CCTV to track down a 31-year-old man accused of her murder.

They allege the man discussed buying sandbags and boat fuel before later travelling to the riverbed where the girl’s body was later found. 

‘(There were) a number of telephone conversations, to purchase a number of sandbags – 20 kilos sandbags from the hardware store – to fuel a boat and then try and float that boat on the water at one of the one of the docks in inner Sydney,’ Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said. 

The girl’s mother and mother’s fiancé reported her missing to police on Friday morning, claiming they last saw her on Thursday afternoon.

But the police fact sheet tendered in court on Wednesday indicates police believe there are contradictions to that timeline.

Police have alleged she was killed sometime between 7pm on Tuesday, January 11 and 10am Wednesday January 12.

There has been a significant delay in speaking with the girl’s mother because she remains in hospital under guard. 

‘The mother is currently under healthcare and is difficult to approach,’ Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson said.

‘She’s under medical supervision, but when doctors allow, we will be talking to her.’

Mr Hudson said it was too early to speculate as to whether the accused had an accomplice.

‘At this stage, we have no evidence to support whether the accused acted alone… However it is still early days,’ he said.

Police were investigating a number of ‘anomolies’ they identified in the accused’s initial testimony, which included giving two separate versions of events in the lead up to the girl’s disappearance.

Mr Hudson said through tracking the movements of a car they seized via CCTV, they were able to establish certain facts as to the movements of the man charged.

‘Thursday afternoon, he purchased a number of sandbags from a hardware store,’ he confirmed, adding that petrol was also used in an attempt to float a small boat which was later deemed inoperable.

‘We then tracked the individual back to the location where we found the body.’ 

The child’s doting grandparents, who have fulltime custody of her in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast, have been notified. 

More details about the girl’s death and final moments are expected in the coming days after her post-mortem results are shared with detectives.   

The 31-year-old accused, who was arrested shortly after the body was found inside a Surry Hills unit, faced court on Wednesday morning.

He did not apply for bail and it was formally refused. Neither he nor the girl can be identified for legal reasons.

His lawyer asked the court for a 12 week adjournment to seek a mental health assessment, noting he’s been on ‘long term medication’. 

Police will allege he tried to get the barrel to the river but couldn’t drag it through the dense bushland and left it abandoned in scrub nearby. 

The barrel has now been seized and will be forensically examined further, police said. 

An eyewitness also told Daily Mail Australia they had seen a car leaving the property she was last seen at in the early hours of Friday morning. 

The one hour drive from Mt Wilson to the Colo River follows Mt Wilson Road to the Bells Line of Road then via one of two routes to reach the river.

Driving past houses and equestrian properties, the road becomes a dirt track as it enters the Wollemi National Park.

Comleroy Road to Upper Colo is a winding and often steep and treacherous dirt road which crosses through the flowing Colo River past the remote Wheeny Creek campground.

A road posted with a sign warning ‘Protect children! Please drive carefully’ goes past the Upper Colo Anglican Church and local rural fire brigade headquarters.   

The victim’s ‘shattered’ father, who also cannot be identified, shared an emotional tribute on Wednesday morning, hours after learning of her death.

‘Goodbye beautiful girl… We will get answers for you baby, and we will honour you properly,’ he said.

‘You have captured the hearts of the nation and the world, and now those hearts are breaking with mine.’

Her father vowed this ‘would not be the end of [her] or [her] story’ in his statement.

‘This doesn’t happen. Kids need to be safe. What is wrong with people?’