William Tyrrell’s foster father is found not guilty of lying to secretive NSW Crime Commission about his wife being punched and kicked by an 11-year-old girl in their care

William Tyrrell’s foster father has been found not guilty on five charges of lying to the secretive NSW Crime Commission.

A magistrate dismissed all charges against the 56-year-old on Tuesday afternoon, saying he “cannot be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt” that the foster father knowingly lied during a November 2021 hearing into William’s disappearance.

The foster father, who can only be identified as JS for legal reasons, was accused of lying when asked about his wife’s abuse of an 11-year-old girl in their care.

Magistrate John Arms said questions about the assaults asked of JS at the hearing were not specific enough, or were ambiguous, and he could not rule out that the foster father had mistakenly answered that he could not remember the assaults.

Magistrate Arms said: ‘There is no evidence as to what “recent times” and no clarification as to what “damage” meant in the questions put to JS.

A two-day hearing into the charges revealed that William Tyrrell’s foster father had lied ‘to conceal the fact that his wife had assaulted a child in their care’, just 22 days before the Secret Crime Commission hearing.

Police prosecutor John Marsh told Downing Center Local Court on Tuesday that JS was secretly recorded on devices placed in the foster parents’ home and in the cars asking his wife: “Did you kick her hard ?’

He said the foster mother – who can only be identified as SD – replied: “I can’t believe I did that.”

He told the court that in another secret recording, made ten months earlier, SD mentioned a “huge rim” left behind when she hit the girl with a wooden spoon.

The court heard the foster father respond: “We have a problem, we have a big problem.”

Det-Sgt Marsh told the court that the foster father was asked several questions during the 2021 hearing about whether his wife had ever hit the 11-year-old girl in their care.

The court heard JS was asked: ‘To your knowledge, has (SD) ever punched (the young girl)?’, to which the foster father replied: ‘Not to my knowledge, no’.

Det-Sgt Marsh also said JS answered no to questions: ‘Do you think she ever hit or hurt William?’, ‘(or the young girl)?’ and ‘Lately she never (the girl )?’

The prosecutor told the court that the foster father’s reason for “lying… was to conceal the fact that his wife had assaulted a child in their care.”

However, the foster father’s lawyer, Phillip English, told the court that the fact that the secret recordings were not played to the crime squad when JS was questioned meant that the interrogation was too vague and therefore JS had not lied.

He said it was “an honest mistake” that JS later told welfare authorities that he did not know his wife had kicked the girl until after his appearance before the crime commission.

“He was not given any opportunity to explain his state of mind on this subject,” Mr English said.

A total of 82 minutes of secret recordings of conflicts between the foster parents and the 11-year-old girl were played in court.

The girl could be heard sobbing and crying, “No, mommy no,” “please stop,” and repeating “help” as she was hit with the wooden spoon.

You could also hear her crying after she was kicked later.

Police cross-examination by Mr English on Monday revealed details of the foster mother’s testimony at the crime commission hearing.

Mr English read to the court a series of questions asked by William’s foster mother during the hearing, including: ‘Did you find his body among the ferns and in the foliage under the veranda that day?

The foster mother was also asked: ‘Have you found his body and do you realize that he is deceased and that there is no point in calling the emergency services?’

Another question asked of SD was, “I want you to imagine what happened that day when William was walking around on that porch and fell over and it was no one’s fault.”

Each of the questions was accompanied by the foster mother’s steadfast denial that she had any knowledge of William Tyrrell’s disappearance, or of his injury, disappearance and death.

William Tyrrell disappeared as a three-year-old and has not been seen since September 12, 2014, becoming Australia’s most infamous missing person case.

No one has ever been charged in his disappearance.

Despite Monday’s hearing on charges against the foster father, much of the evidence heard in court related to William’s foster mother.

Cross-examining a police officer on Monday, the foster father’s lawyer, Phillip English, explained to the court how it had been suggested to the foster mother at a Crime Commission hearing that she “may have found William’s body near a riding school dumped’.

Counsel assisting the Crime Commission, Sophie Callan, then asked the foster mother: “Did you take his body to the riding school in Kendall, on the NSW Mid North Coast)?”

SD replied: ‘No’.

SD was then asked, “Did you decide to resolve the situation that was beyond repair?” and ‘you decided to resolve the situation and hide his body rather than let your (SD)’s mother… take responsibility’.

SD denied both statements submitted to it. They involved William Tyrrell’s foster grandmother, who owned the house from which he disappeared and has since died.

Mrs. Callan then told the foster mother that the SD found William’s body “and you put his body in your mother’s car, and that’s why you drove the car that day (to Kendall’s nearby riding school)?” ‘

William’s foster mother was found not guilty of lying to the NSW Crime Commission last year after a hearing in which police alleged she falsely stated during her testimony that she had not hit a child – not William – with a wooden spoon.