A 36-year-old man has appeared in court over charges of allegedly kidnapping four-year-old Cleo Smith.
Terence Darrell Kelly was taken into custody and questioned at about midnight on Wednesday morning, after being pulled over in a car by police.
Detectives then attended his home and found the little girl.
The miracle we all hoped for. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zOd5WDTA1A
— WA Police Force (@WA_Police) November 3, 2021
In a statement released late on Thursday, police said Mr Kelly had been charged with “various offences”, including one count of forcibly taking a child under the age of 16.
“Given this matter is now before the court, police are unable to make any further comment on the charges at this stage,” police said.
After briefly appearing before Carnarvon Magistrates Court, Mr Kelly was remanded in custody for four weeks.
According to reports from The Australian, Mr Kelly made several outbursts during the proceedings, including saying “I’m coming for you”.
It is said he also asked the magistrate, “What the f**k are the media doing here?”, with the magistrate replying that “it’s an open court”.
Mr Kelly only became a suspect in the case surrounding Cleo’s disappearance on Tuesday afternoon as a result of a ”very quick-moving investigation”.
“He was arrested not long after that,” lead investigator Detective Superintendent Rod Wilde said.
When asked if Mr Kelly drove the car seen at about 3am on the night Cleo disappeared, Superintendent Wilde said that was still undetermined.
“That hasn’t been confirmed as yet, but certainly we would say that that car was significant and it was in the right time frame,” he said.
In an earlier radio interview on Thursday, Superintendent Wilde dismissed claims that Mr Kelly was injured by a cellmate after being taken into custody.
“No, that’s not true. My understanding is that the man in custody self-harmed,” he told 6PR radio.
“Obviously, in modern police stations there’s CCTV in all the cells.”
Superintendent Wilde also told reporters on Thursday that Mr Kelly had been taken to the hospital twice after he allegedly harmed himself.
Social media pictures of Mr Kelly’s doll collection. Image: Facebook
Social media posts have revealed photos of Mr Kelly holding Bratz toy dolls, as well as a room full of toy dolls.
Though Cleo has been found and reunited with her parents, Superintendent Wilde said there was still work to do to establish what happened.
“Obviously there’s a process to go through with our child specialist interviewers that are here now,” he said.
He also called on the public to refrain from sharing “wild theories” or speculating on what happened online.
“There’s been a lot of it through this investigation. It’s unhelpful, we see that it’s untrue, it only damages people,” he said.
“We’ve got a legal process that we’ll need to go through — that’s where the facts will come forward.
“Everyone please keep those theories to yourself and don’t go sticking them on social media — it’s very unhelpful.”
Image: Facebook
This article first appeared on Over60.