‘Somebody else possibly involved’ in Charlise murder, lawyer says

A lawyer for the man charged with murdering nine-year-old Charlise Mutten while she was holidaying in the Blue Mountains with her mother says there is a possibility someone else was involved in the primary school student’s death.

The allegations came to light after Justin Stein’s case was briefly mentioned at Penrith Local Court today, three months after he allegedly shot the Tweed Heads Public student dead before disposing of her body in a barrel on the banks of the Colo River.

Outside court, his lawyer Peter Katsoolis told 9News his client was defending the charges.

“It’s very early days, there’s still no clear motive,” Mr Katsoolis said before adding, “there was somebody else possibly involved”.

Police allege Stein fatally shot Charlise on January 11 or 12 while she was spending her school holidays at his family’s sprawling Mount Wilson estate in the Blue Mountains.

At the time of her alleged murder, police believe Charlise’s mother, Kallista Mutten, was staying at a caravan park on the Hawkesbury River after leaving her daughter in Stein’s care.

Charlise, who lived in Queensland with her grandparents, had travelled to NSW to spend her school holidays with her mother.

Detectives arrested Stein in January following a week-long search with thousands of volunteers at Mount Wilson after Ms Mutten had reported her daughter missing.

In the days after his arrest, police released CCTV which allegedly shows Stein towing a boat containing Charlise’s body and driving to several locations — including Drummoyne, Windsor and Marsden Park — before dumping her body at Colo.

“We’ve got a long way to go to analyse all of those movements,” Mr Katsoolis said.

Homicide detectives are still investigating exactly where and when Charlise was killed and are yet to find a murder weapon but police claim phone records show Stein allegedly bought sandbags from Bunnings before his GPS tracked him to the Colo River.