The man who kidnapped Cleo Smith from a remote campground 18 months ago has been sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 37, last year pleaded guilty to one count of forcibly taking a child under the age of 16. He kidnapped the four-year-old girl and held her captive for 18 days.
Kelly snatched Cleo from a tent on Oct. 16, 2021, while sleeping with her mother and stepfather at the Blowholes campsite, near Carnarvon, about 600 miles north of Perth.
“There are no really comparable cases to help determine the length of a sentence,” Chief Justice Julie Wager said of the sentence.
Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon were seen arriving at WA’s court in Perth earlier on Wednesday.
It was the first time the pair had been seen since being interviewed by 60 Minutes last year.
Kelly, who sat quietly in the dock wearing a green shirt, is eligible for parole after eleven years and six months.
Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith and stepfather Jake Gliddon arrive at WA’s court in Perth on Wednesday for the conviction of the man who kidnapped the little girl in October 2021
Terence Darrell Kelly (pictured centre), 37, pleaded guilty to one charge last year of forcibly taking a child under 16
His sentence runs back to his arrest in November 2021 and he could face up to 20 years behind bars.
Judge Wager described the anguish, suffering and trauma inflicted on Cleo and her parents as “immeasurable.”
“Eighteen days with no contact or explanation, and with hours completely alone and with no access to the outside world, would have been very traumatic,” she said.
“In a four-year-old’s world, one day is very long. In a four-year-old’s world, 18 days is a very long time indeed.’
The court heard that Kelly had a “significant interest” in dolls and Facebook pages featuring “fantasy children.”
Kelly arrived at the campground looking for items to steal before coming across the Smith family’s two-room tent, where Cleo and her younger sister slept in a separate compartment.
Kelly made the opportunistic decision to grab Cleo, lift her up along with her sleeping bag, and carry her to his car in “relative silence,” undetected by her sleeping parents.
Mother Ellie Smith (pictured with Cleo and partner Jake Gliddon) awoke in the early morning to find four-year-old Cleo Smith missing from the family tent, sparking a major police investigation
Western Australian detectives were also at the District Court of WA in Perth for the sentencing of Terrence Kelly
He kept Cleo in his home in Carnarvon throughout her imprisonment, locking her in a bedroom for much of that period after adjusting the door and leaving her house alone for long periods while he went shopping and visited relatives.
Kelly told police he felt bad for holding Cleo, but also admitted to getting angry with her, saying he “harassed her a few times.”
“I wasn’t going to keep her forever, you know. I felt guilty every day and it was just more weight on my shoulders,” Kelly said during a police questioning, according to Judge Wager.
The judge said Cleo had pleaded to be returned to her parents and that Kelly, knowing of the desperate search for Cleo, had used a loud radio to drown out her pleas.
“When the young victim heard her name on the radio, she said, ‘They’re saying my name,'” Judge Wager said.
Kelly later told police he had injected methamphetamine at the time, also shortly before arriving at the Blowholes campground.
Cleo’s parents had woken up at the campsite, “not knowing for the next 18 days whether she was alive or dead.”
“They didn’t know what had happened to her or if she would ever return,” Judge Wager said.
“(They) were sad, scared and confused. They described being too scared to sleep… feeling completely empty and broken.
“They stayed in the place that caused them so much pain, hoping that their little girl would be located.”
Judge Wager noted Kelly’s deprived childhood and complex personality and developmental disabilities.
She accepted that Kelly would have been “much less likely” to commit the crime had he not been disinhibited by illegal drug use.
Cleo was reported missing on October 16, 2021. She was staying with her family at the remote Blowholes campsite (pictured), about 600 miles north of Perth.