The 36-year-old man accused Thursday by Australian police of kidnapping four-year-old Cleo Smith for 18 days had a room full of dolls in his home, which he sometimes took for walks, local media reported Thursday.
Defendant in Cleo Smith kidnapping had a room full of dolls in his home that he took out for walks
Terence Darrell Kelly was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning after police found the girl alive and unharmed, who had kept the country in suspense since her disappearance when she was with her family at a campsite on October 16.
Since Kelly’s arrest, a video of the accused in a room with dozens of dolls, some of them inside their original box, has been disseminated on social networks, as reported Thursday by the Sydney Morning Herald.
In addition, Kelly also posted on Facebook in April 2020 photos of himself taking a doll for a car ride with the comment, “I love taking my dolls for car rides and fixing their hair and taking selfies in public.”
According to this newspaper, in another Facebook post from July 2020, Kelly appeared in another photo wearing a Bratz doll brand T-shirt and holding a doll in each hand.
Charged by police with several counts
Kelly appeared Thursday before a court in Carnarvon, in the northwest of Australia, where he was charged with several charges (police did not detail them to protect the little girl), including one for forcibly taking a 16-year-old minor, according to a statement released to the media.
The accused, who is due to appear on December 6, was arrested early Wednesday morning on a street in the town of Carnarvon, in northwestern Australia, shortly after he rescued the child from his home where he kept her under lock and key.
