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A man accused of killing Charlize Mouton has denied drugging and shooting the girl, telling court he “never touched her.”
Justin Stein pleaded not guilty to murdering Charlize in January 2022, claiming that the girl’s mother, Calista Mutten, shot her.
Charlize’s body was found washed up in the Colo River, northwest of Sydney in NSWfour days after she was reported missing, with gunshot wounds to the head and waist.
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Stein admitted to dumping the girl’s body and lied to police during initial questioning, but claimed that Mutten shot Charlize and placed her body in a barrel on his back without his knowledge.
Concluding his cross-examination on Tuesday, Attorney General Ken McKay SC told Stein that he had killed Charlize.
“I suggest you killed, you shot Charlize Mouton twice,” McKay said.
“I never touched her,” Stein replied.
Toxicology revealed that Charlies had traces of the antipsychotic drug Seroquel, which Stein had a prescription for to treat schizophrenia, in her body.
The court was previously told that an adult dose of the drug would have a significant sedative effect on a child.
“Were you concerned that … she was sick and you gave her Seroquel?” McKay asked.
“I hadn’t given her Seroquel,” Stein replied.
Charlize was visiting her mother and Stein, who were in a relationship at the time, for Christmas.
The group splits its time between a Mount Wilson property owned by Stein’s mother and a caravan at Riviera Ski Park, about a 90-minute drive away.
Prosecutors say Charlize spent the night alone with Stein at the Mount Wilson property on Jan. 11 and he killed her that night or the next day.
During his testimony on Monday, Stein agreed he had spent that night at the property with Charlize, but said the girl was alive the next day and had traveled with him to collect Mouton from the caravan before the three went to Sydney.
According to Stein, the trio returned to Mount Wilson that evening and he was working in a shed on the property shortly after 9:00 p.m. when he heard a gunshot.
“I went outside the shed … then I heard Charlize yelling ‘mom no’ and then bang, a second shot,” Stein said.
Muten denied any involvement in her daughter’s death and broke down in tears when faced with the accusation from Stein’s attorney during her testimony.
Prison phone calls between Stein and his mother Anemie contain different versions of what he would later claim happened in court.
“There are quite a few mistakes in these phone calls,” Stein admitted.
Inconsistencies include the time of night he said Charlize was shot and when he realized her body was in a barrel on his duck’s back.
In phone records played in court, Stein said his mother, Charlize, was shot in the “small hours” of Jan. 13, although he testified in court that it was at least several hours earlier.
McKay suggested that Stein changed his version of events after reading a police memo with evidence that contradicted his chronology.
“There’s a mistake there … when it actually happened,” Stein said.
“There is some confusion.”
The day after he claimed Mutten shot her daughter, Stein was caught on camera buying sandbags from Bunnings, which he said were for a patio he intended to restore.
Stein told the court he did not know Charlize’s body was on the back of his ute until the barrel later came loose and he pulled to refasten it.
He said he threw up when he made the gruesome discovery.
But in another conversation with his mother, Stein said Mouton told him Charlize was in the barrel while he was still at Bunnings.
“She goes, ‘she’s on the back of the ute,’ and I freaking freaked out,” Stein told her mom.
He told the court: “I’m not sure why I said that last part.”
“Just more confusion?” McKay said.
“Yes,” Stein replied.
Closing arguments are set to begin on Wednesday.
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