The man who kidnapped a four-year-old girl from her family's camping tent and kept her captive for more than a fortnight in his house turned up the radio to drown out the noise of her pleading for her mother, a Perth court has heard.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 37, was sentenced to 13 years and six months in jail after pleading guilty to abducting Cleo Smith in a case that made headlines around the world.
He will have to serve over 11 years before he is eligible for release on parole.
The court heard Cleo heard her name mentioned on the radio and said to Kelly: "They're saying my name".
Kelly later told police he had tried to tie up Cleo first with sticky tape, but that did not work so he tried to tie her to a chair, but he said "she was a bit of a fighter".
In his police interview, Kelly described Cleo as "bossy" when asking for chocolates, and said he did "rough her up" and had smacked her, but had not wanted to harm her badly.
Kelly snatched Cleo from her family's tent at the Quobba Blow Holes, about 70 kilometres, north of Carnarvon in the early hours of October 16, 2021.
The little girl had last been seen by her mother Ellie Smith and her stepfather Jake Gliddon when she woke around 1.30am and asked for a glass of water.
When the couple woke the next morning, they discovered Cleo was missing, along with her sleeping bag. The zip on the tent was also wide open.
It sparked one of the biggest searches in WA history.
Distress to family 'immeasurable': Chief Judge
WA District Court Chief Judge Julie Wager described Kelly's actions as being "at the highest level of seriousness".
She said Cleo's life, and that of her family, had been "permanently impacted", something she said would never go away.
"This isn't a case of luring a child away, that would be serious enough, but the taking of a little four-year-old girl from the zipped-up family tent in the middle of the night when her parents assumed she was safe is even more concerning," Judge Wager told the 37 year old.
She also referred to the victim impact statement provided to the court by Cleo's mother and stepfather, which detailed the anguish they felt throughout the 18 days, including feelings of emptiness and being broken.
"The family spoke about their desperation, shock, and fear to the community via media at the time, so a little of their pain was known to others. However, the fear and distress caused to them over those 18 days was immeasurable." Judge Wager said.
She added that the time Cleo was held captive must have been extremely distressing for her as a young child.
"Being separated without any explanation is distressing for a four-year-old child," Judge Wager said.
"But 18 days without contact or explanation, and with hours totally on her own and no access to the outside world would have been very traumatic.
"In the world of a four-year-old, a day is a long time … [and] 18 days is a very, very, very long time indeed."
Kelly lived in a 'fantasy world'
She also outlined that Kelly had been exposed to severe and complex trauma as a child and had suffered a neurological impairment.
The court heard Kelly had created what the chief judge described as an "idealised fantasy world" which protected him from the "depressing" real world.
His fantasy world included his like of Bratz dolls, and that he had a number of imaginary 'children' for whom he had created social media pages.
At the time Kelly was using methamphetamine which he claimed had contributed to his decision to steal Cleo.
Judge Wager said she accepted that Kelly's drug use, in combination with his complex personality dysfunction and impairment, caused him to offend.
Background of deprivation
Kelly's deprived and traumatic upbringing was a major factor in the sentence handed down.
"I also fully accept your background of deprivation," Judge Wager said.
"No child in Western Australia should have suffered the neurodevelopmental difficulties the trauma, the grief and the neglect that you suffered as a child and as a young person.
"Sadly, in Western Australia, many Aboriginal people have suffered the adverse impacts of colonisation. I fully accept that you're one of them and I accept that you've turned to drug misuse because of the pain and trauma that you've suffered throughout your life."
From fantasy to 'harsh new reality'
The court heard Kelly was isolated in prison because of the nature of his crime, something medical reports suggested had made him fearful and feeling hopeless about his future, because he had "gone from the euphoria of fulfilling his idealised fantasy of having a little girl who he can dress up, play with and be with, to a new harsh reality."
Judge Wager said Kelly's time in prison was likely to be harder for him than others, particularly given his personality dysfunction and neurodevelopmental difficulties.
The court heard Kelly told police he was not planning to keep Cleo forever and that he had been "feeling guilty" about what he had done every day.
Judge Wager gave Kelly the full 25 per cent discount on his sentence for his early plea.
The sentence has been backdated to the time of his arrest early on November 3, around the same time Cleo was discovered by police in his locked house in Carnarvon.
Kelly earlier entered court flanked by two security guards and wearing a green buttoned shirt.
He sat in the dock partially surrounded by glass panels, with Cleo's family members sitting just metres away in the public gallery.
Kelly befriended Cleo's mother on Facebook
WA Director of Public Prosecutions, Robert Owen, told the court Kelly took Cleo from the family tent sometime between 2.40am and 4.40am in "relative silence".
After picking Cleo up, he took her to his car and drove her to his house in Carnarvon where he lived alone.
The court heard that after Kelly put Cleo into his car, he was paranoid and took a dirt road to reach Carnarvon and switched off his phone.
Mr Owen said over the next 18 days, Cleo was sometimes left alone in the house in a room that Kelly had locked.
When police discovered her, she was in the room on a mattress playing with toys.
Mr Owen said Kelly was aware of the search for the little girl and during that time befriended Cleo's mother on Facebook which she was using to try to find her.
Ms Smith and Mr Gliddon were escorted into the District Court building by Detective Sergeant Jason Hutchinson.
He was among the four Homicide Squad detectives who rescued Cleo and was the one to call her parents to let them know she had been found alive.
Closing a chapter on 'evil' incident
Speaking after the sentencing, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch labelled the crime "heinous" and a parent's worst nightmare.
"I would expect the community would never think that 13-and-a-half years is enough," he said.
"But Judge Wager had to weigh up many things and there were many mitigating circumstances.
"I'm a police commissioner and I respect the way we do the rule of law, but as a father that's something I could never forgive."
He said while it offered some closure to the family, it was also an emotionally charged time.
"It's been such a long time since this evil incident occurred at the Blowholes," he said.
"We have to have a lot of empathy and compassion for the family. Let them get back to the normal life.
"Hopefully, ... this really closes the chapter on this book."
Commissioner Blanch recounted the 18 days of "blood, sweat and tears" that the family and police endured while searching for Cleo.
"This is probably the most amazing case I've ever seen in the history of my law enforcement career," he said.
"I couldn't ask those police officers to go home because they didn't want to for 18 days … they did everything they could to get the outcome that we achieved."
