The man who kidnapped and held a 4-year-old girl in Australia for 18 days has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison. Terence Kelly, 37, has already admitted to being behind the kidnapping. According to psychiatrists, the man suffers from “a severe and complex personality disorder.”
The girl, Cleo Smith, was abducted while sleeping in a tent at a remote campsite. Kelly put him in his car, drove 77 miles, and locked him in a bedroom. More than a hundred police searched the girl from the air, among other works, and the road was blocked in several places due to the investigation.
The girl was found by police teams a few minutes’ drive from her family’s home after an intense search. The judge said the abduction was extremely traumatic for him. The 4-year-old would often say his mother’s name, but Kelly would turn the radio louder to drown out the shouts.
The judge acknowledged that the kidnapper had a difficult childhood, but said the risk of recurrence was high. He relied on a study by psychiatrists. The man had created a “fantasy world” for himself and was also a heavy user of the highly addictive drug, crystal meth. It is not clear what aroused the man, there would be no mention of sexual abuse.
Source: NOS
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
