New details have emerged about the abduction of Cleo Smith, including her frantic mother’s call to triple-0 when she realised her little girl was missing.
Cleo, then four, made international headlines when she was snatched from a tent on October 16 2021 as she slept with her mother, stepfather and baby sister at the Blowholes campsite, near Carnarvon, about 960km north of Perth.
The little girl was held captive by Terence Darrell Kelly and locked alone in a bedroom at his home for 18 days before WA police rescued her in a late night raid.
Grim new details about Cleo’s kidnapping will soon be aired after Kelly was recently sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in jail.
Ellie Smith’s distraught call to triple-0 and police bodycam footage of the tearful mum, after officers arrived at the remote campsite, will be aired for the first time on 60 Minutes on May 14.
Ms Smith and her partner Jake Giddon also revealed how Cleo is coping 18 months after the scarring ordeal, including new footage of the little girl.
“Her nightmare nights are the worst. It’s heartbreaking,” Ms Smith said in a preview.
“Sad, hurt, scared, terrified. It is hard talking about him (Kelly) and what happened.”
The program will also air the heartbreaking audio of Ms Smith’s triple-0 call when she discovered Cleo was missing from their tent on the day she was abducted.
“My daughter’s gone missing,” the distraught mum said.
“How old is your daughter,” the operator asked.
“She’s four,” Ms Smith tearfully responded.
Bodycam footage from the first officers on the scene being shown around the campsite by the terrified mum has also emerged.
“We woke up this morning, and she was missing,” Ms Smith said.
Cleo’s disappearance led to one of the biggest police searches in WA history and made headlines worldwide.
Investigators who were involved in the case will also share more details about the extensive lengths detectives went to track down Kelly.
“It really set the investigation alight,” one officer said.
“They narrowed and narrowed it. They made the right call.”
Ms Smith added, “That was the second we realised she didn’t walk away. She was taken.”
Ms Smith and her partner appeared at Kelly’s sentencing in the District Court of WA in April.
It was the first time the pair had been seen in public since their first interview with 60 Minutes a year ago.
They reportedly received $2 million for the world exclusive TV interview.
Sentencing judge Julie Wager described the fear, distress and trauma Cleo and her parents have been left with as “immeasurable”.
“Eighteen days without contact or explanation, and with hours totally on her own and no access to the outside world, would have been very traumatic,” the judge said.
Kelly’s legal team have confirmed their client has lodged an appeal over the lengthy sentence handed down to him after he admitted to forcibly detaining a child under the age of 16 in January 2022.
Court documents have revealed Kelly’s lawyers are appealing on multiple grounds including disputing the extent to which his methamphetamine use contributed to the crime.
“The learned sentencing judge erred in finding that the applicant’s use of methamphetamine had a significant and casual role in the offending,” the appeal documents read.
“The learned sentencing judge failed to give appropriate weight to the applicant’s childhood disadvantage and trauma.”
Image credit: 60 Minutes/Instagram
This article first appeared on Over60.