Updated
The first inquest into William Tyrrell’s disappearance has heard the three-year-old “wasn’t a wanderer” and that evidence will show “he was likely taken” from his foster grandmother’s home in NSW.
Key points:
- William Tyrrell was last seen playing in his foster grandmother’s front yard in Kendall, NSW
- The inquest was played a recording of a call she made to police 20 minutes after he vanished
- Counsel Assisting said it usually took around two hours for a parent to contact police
Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame opened the hearing by offering her condolences to the toddler’s biological parents, who sat quietly in the front row of the courtroom.
“To have a child go missing must be to have one of the greatest pains anyone can experience,” she said.
The court was played a video of a police interview with the foster father almost a week after the toddler vanished from his foster grandmother’s home at Kendall on September 12, 2014.
It shows him leading a detective to a wire fence at the edge of the Benaroon Drive property and telling the police officer “it would be too hard” for William to climb over it.
“He knows his limitations, he has asthma and he would start coughing, he never wanders, he is not a wanderer, he just doesn’t do it,” he said.
The detective then said: “Would this be too daunting for William?”
The foster father replies: “Yep, too hard.”
‘He was likely taken’
The court was also played the frantic phone call made by William’s foster mother 20 minutes after she noticed her son had gone missing from the front yard while playing with his sister.
Counsel Assisting Gerard Craddock SC said it usually took around two hours for a parent to contact police in similar situations.
He also referred to research from the United States, which claimed 74 per cent of children who were abducted were murdered within three hours of being taken, and added that “instinct tells us he (William) was likely abducted”.
“There is no evidence presently available to establish that William is in fact dead, although there is a wealth of evidence to raise suspicion,” he said.
William Tyrell’s biological grandmother wiped away tears when a photo of him dressed in a Spider Man suit was projected on a screen.
Mr Craddock also told the court there was “no doubt” that the toddler’s biological parents were in Sydney on the day he went missing, but that “he didn’t disappear because he was in foster care”.
“Investigators have not positively identified that no relatives were involved in William’s disappearance.”
“I suspect the evidence will show that he was likely taken — that William’s disappearance was likely the result of human intervention,” he said.
The inquest will be held over five days this week.
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