TERENCE KELLY SENTENCED OVER CLEO SMITH KIDNAPPING

BY ROBYN MARAIS

Terence Darrell Kelly was sentenced by Chief Judge Julie Wager in the District Court yesterday in relation to the charge of depriving parents Ellie Smith and Jake Gliddon of possession of their child Cleo.

Mr Kelly appeared before Her Honour dressed in a green shirt and black shorts, his dark hair tied back. Flanked by two guards, Kelly was not restrained in any way and appeared relaxed, although the shame he had expressed in regard to the wrongfulness of his actions was mentioned several times during the sentence hearing.

Her Honour had to consider many factors including the trauma to the child and her parents and the fact Mr Kelly’s behaviour indicated he had no intention of returning the child despite her pleas and those of her parents and police.

Cleo Smith after being rescued by police. Credit: WA Police.

Chief Judge Wager said she found that the crime had not been premeditated, and Kelly had been in the Blowholes campground seeking to steal property when he came upon and abducted Cleo in the very early hours of October 21, 2021. She told Kelly that nevertheless the impact of his actions will never go away for the child and her parents, especially as a day in the life of a child is a very long time, let alone 18 days.

Her Honour took into account the immediate plea of guilty and the personal circumstances that Mr Kelly, a 37 year old Yamatji person, had been exposed to since birth. As the youngest of two children, he had been abandoned at two-and-half-years-old and came into the care of his grandmother. She reported to Child Protection that alcohol had been found in his baby bottle. His mother and father both abused alcohol and cannabis and expert pyschological reports provided to the Court identified that Mr Kelly, because of a disastrous childhood, had serious, complex developmental disorders.

Terence Kelly. Credit: Facebook.

Chief Judge Wager accepted that Mr Kelly had invented an idealised fantasy world in which he had fictitious family members for whom he opened Facebook pages, his fantasy family were very real to him, and that prison would be a harsh contrast to that fantasy world.

Her Honour accepted that Mr Kelly’s use of methamphetamine had affected his decision to take Cleo from her family’s tent and said that an expert’s report had submitted that, but for the disorders caused by his childhood, Mr Kelly would not have been likely to kidnap a child.

Mr Kelly had also consumed meth before and during the first week of the abduction. Her Honour stated that the reasons why Mr Kelly was using meth had to be taken into account, stating that drug abuse had been normalised during his childhood, that he was grieving the loss of his grandmother and that along with the fantasy family, drug use made life more bearable.

Judge Wager said that Mr Kelly should not be punished for the deprivation he suffered during his childhood and noted that many Aboriginal people suffered deprivations resulting from colonisation.

Her Honour noted that there were no comparable cases with which to compare Mr Kelly’s. Having earlier noted the maximum penalty could be 20 years, she sentenced Kelly to 13 years and six months in jail, back-dated to November 3 2021. Mr Kelly would be eligible for parole after serving 11 years and six months.