Charlise Mutten’s former primary school has vowed to keep her memory alive by creating a permanent memorial area in her memory.
Tweed Heads Public School, in northern NSW is mourning the loss of the nine-year-old after her body was discovered last week in a barrel dumped near the Colo River, North-west of Sydney.
The schoolgirl lived fulltime with her grandparents on the Gold Coast was reported missing days earlier on January 14th from Wildenstein Private Gardens at Mount Wilson, where she was spending the holidays with her mother Kallista Mutten.
Principal Peter Nichols has announced the school will create a memorial site for the allegedly murdered child, using flowers, cards, and other gifts laid at the school’s front gates.
A makeshift shrine featuring photos, bouquets, cards, and stuffed toys has amassed at the entrance since hundreds of mourners gathered at the campus for a candlelit vigil last Wednesday.
‘On behalf of the school, I sincerely thank you for all the cards, flowers and other items placed at our fence,’ Mr Nichols said in a statement on Tuesday.
‘Every one of them acknowledges how much we all loved Charlise and how much we will all miss her.’
Mr Nichols said the Red Cross offered to collect and collate the mementos into a book for Charlise’s family to create a lasting token of the ‘spontaneous and thoughtful memorial’ that developed outside the school.
‘To allow this to happen, all the mementos left at the school fence will be collected soon,’ he said.
‘This includes the flowers and plant material which will be mulched and used in the creation of a memorial area for Charlise.’
Mr Nichols stated the charity organisation would be offering members of the school community further opportunities to contribute to the memorial book later on.
Charlise’s mother’s fiancé, Justin Stein, 31, has been charged with murder and remains in custody.
Image: Facebook
This article first appeared on OverSixty.