Justin Stein: Man accused of killing Charlise Mutten made a stunning claim to cops about the schoolgirl’s mother during his second interview, court hears

The man who allegedly murdered nine-year-old Charlise Mutten attacked the girl’s mother in a second interview with the police. He said he lied to protect his fiancée but heard her ‘talking about running’, a jury has heard.

Justin Stein spoke with police for more than two hours on Jan. 14, 2022, two days after prosecutors alleged he shot the girl twice and stuffed her body in a barrel before rolling it down an embankment near the Colo River.

Moments after the interview ended, the jury heard that a second interview had taken place in which a police officer said there were concerns about what Stein said in the first conversation.

The officer said they had a conversation that was not recorded, in which Stein was told they were “quite concerned” that he had lied.

“You said that the previous version was not entirely the truth and that you would like to speak to us,” the officer said.

In the footage shown to the jury, Stein said there were elements of his story that were true, but there were “some aspects missing.”

The 33-year-old is facing a trial in NSW High Council in Parramatta after pleading not guilty to murder but admitting disposing of the nine-year-old’s body.

Charlise had visited her mother Kallista Mutten, who was engaged to Stein at the time, during the school holidays.

She spent her time in Sydney, split between Stein’s family property at Mount Wilson, where she was reportedly shot, and a caravan park called the Riviera Ski Gardens in Lower Portland, about an hour and a half away.

He said a story about a real estate agent who took care of Charlise wasn’t “his thing,” but rather a story Mrs. Mutten told him to tell.

In the first interview, Stein told police he took Charlise to the house on January 11 and left her with a real estate agent the next morning, with the agent offering to care for the nine-year-old because she woke up “vomiting chunks.” .

But he changed his story and claimed that Mrs. Mutten was with her daughter the entire time.

“I can’t describe her reasoning and her thinking that she has a lot of problems when it comes to custody,” he said in the second interview played to the jury on Friday.

“Kallista was planning on taking Charlise… I don’t know where she actually is, I didn’t know when she was going to do that.”

He told officers that his fiancée had been “planning to take Charlise” for some time and that he had “overheard” her talking to someone else several times.

Stein said Ms. Mutten initially did not want to go to the police, despite his insistence that she contact them.

“For once, I didn’t do anything wrong here and that’s the honest truth from God,” Stein said.

He continued to tell police he had no idea where Charlise was, before insisting the girl could be with Ms Mutten’s ex-boyfriend.

When asked how the story about the real estate agent came about, Stein says that Mrs. Mutten “duped it on him.”

“The next moment all hell breaks loose… that’s why it looks so bad,” he said.

“She basically dumped this fucking load of s**t on me… It’s like I was being hung out to be dried out.”

Stein said he had tried to ask Ms. Mutten where Charlise was, but never got a “clear answer from her.”

He said he didn’t know why he told police the lie, but that he loved “the woman” and wanted to protect her.

“But at the same time, I’m the one who’s going to get fucked… I’m really not involved,” he said in the footage.

The first interview was played to the jury on Thursday and showed Stein breaking down and crying as he told police the schoolgirl “meant the world to him” and that she would become his “little girl.”

Stein was asked if he believed that Charlise might not be alive anymore, and replied that he thought she would be okay.

“In my heart I think she’ll be okay because I know what kind of girl she is. “If something would have happened, she would have left a mark or something,” he said.

The officers asked if he was involved in the girl’s death.

He replied, “No…no…never.”

“That boy means the world to me if something were to happen that I could never live with,” he said.

Stein told police that if he knew something bad had happened to the girl, he would have told them in a heartbeat.

“That boy means the world to me, you know what I mean, I don’t have much experience, but this was my chance,” he said as he started to cry.

“She was going to be my little girl.”

Charlise’s body was found on January 18, 2022 in a barrel wedged between trees on an embankment of the Colo River.

Stein is accused of killing the girl between 7:16 p.m. on Jan. 11 and 10:06 a.m. on Jan. 12.

After his arrest in January 2022, Stein denied murdering Charlise in an interview with a Corrective Services officer, but said he “was nearby when Kallista Mutten shot and killed the girl,” the jury heard.

A toxicology report revealed that Charlise had tested positive for Stein’s schizophrenia medication.

The trial continues before Judge Helen Wilson.