August 20th 2024.
After years of waiting, the long-awaited inquest into the disappearance of young William Tyrrell will finally hear from its last group of witnesses before the year comes to a close. It was a tragic day back in September of 2014 when the three-year-old went missing while playing at his foster grandmother's home in Kendall, located on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. The NSW Coroners Court conducted a brief hearing on Tuesday, announcing that the final hearings will take place from November 4th to 8th and December 16th to 20th in order to complete the inquest.
Gerard Craddock SC, who is assisting the counsel, informed the court that a list of witnesses and topics to be addressed during these hearings will be finalized by Friday. Despite a thorough investigation spanning over a decade and involving hundreds of potential suspects and numerous searches, no trace of the young boy - last seen dressed as Spider-Man - has been found. The inquest began in March of 2019, but was put on hold in October of 2020. To this day, no one has been charged in connection to the case and the $1 million reward for any information leading to William's whereabouts still stands.
In November of 2021, the police launched a month-long search for William's remains, but unfortunately, there were no significant breakthroughs. Then in May, a review of evidence was suspended after the police requested the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions to consider pressing charges against the three-year-old's former foster mother. The police believed that she might have disposed of William's body after his accidental death. However, the foster mother has always maintained her innocence and denied any involvement in the disappearance of William.
To add to the complexity of the case, both of William's former foster parents were found guilty of intimidation charges in relation to another child who was also under their care. It was revealed that arguments over household chores, such as cleaning a bedroom and doing the dishes, were part of the prosecution's case against the couple. However, the magistrate dismissed several other domestic violence allegations against the pair. The former foster mother was acquitted of five counts of intimidation, while the foster father had one count of assaulting a child dismissed. The prosecution relied heavily on over 1000 hours of covert recordings conducted by detectives investigating William's disappearance, which were made over a span of 14 months in 2020 and 2021 in the couple's home and vehicles.
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