The four-year-old girl remained unaccounted for 18 days after disappearing from a camping area in Western Australia
The man accused of kidnapping a four-year-old girl in Australia and holding her in his home for 18 days has pleaded guilty to the charges during a videoconference court appearance from a maximum-security prison in the city of Perth.
The man, Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was transferred to this prison two days after the girl was found locked in her home in November, a few blocks from where the girl lived with her mother and stepfather.
Kelly, who is exposed to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, has been represented by his lawyer and has spoken only to acknowledge his responsibility in the kidnapping of the girl, without commenting on the new charges against him for assault on an agent, according to the Australian television network ABC.
The girl, Cleo Smith, was left unaccounted for 18 days after disappearing from a camping area in Western Australia.
The disappearance led to one of the largest police deployments in Australia’s recent history and the state government offered one million Australian dollars (about 642,000 euros) for information that would find the whereabouts of the little girl, who was finally located in a house in Carnarvon.
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