The man who abducted Cleo Smith from a remote campsite 18 months ago has been sentenced to 13 years and six months’ imprisonment as disturbing details about the little girl’s kidnapping were heard for the first time.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 37, pleaded guilty last year to one count of forcibly taking a child under 16. He abducted the four-year-old girl and held her captive for 18 days.
Kelly snatched Cleo from a tent on October 16, 2021, as she slept with her mother, stepfather and baby sister at the Blowholes campsite, near Carnarvon, about 960km north of Perth.
‘There are no truly comparable cases to assist in determining the length of a sentence,’ Chief Judge Julie Wager said during the sentencing.
The court also heard chilling new details about Cleo’s ordeal locked in a bedroom alone for 18 days, including the moment she heard on the radio that her parents were looking for her.
Kelly had turned up the radio volume to drown out the little girl’s desperate pleas to go home to her mum.
He kept Cleo at his Carnarvon home for the entirety of her captivity, locking her in a bedroom for much of that period after modifying the door and leaving her home alone for long periods of time while he went shopping and visited relatives.
He later told police he had felt bad for detaining Cleo but also admitted becoming angry with her, saying he had ‘roughed her up a few times’ when she became ‘bossy’ by asking for chocolate.
Kelly also tried to tie the terrified girl’s hands and feet to a chair with sticky tape but ditched those plans because ‘she was a bit of a fighter’.
Terence Darrell Kelly (pictured centre) was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years on Wednesday
Cleo Smith (pictured) was held captive for 18 days after she was abducted from her family’s campsite in October 2021
‘I wasn’t planning to keep her forever, you know. I was getting guilty every day and it was just more weight on my shoulders,’ Kelly said during a police interview, according to Judge Wager.
The judge said Cleo had pleaded to be returned to her parents and Kelly, who was aware of the desperate search for Cleo, had used a loud radio to drown out her pleas.
‘When the young victim heard her name on the radio, she said ‘they’re saying my name’,’ Judge Wager said.
Cleo’s hair had also been cut and coloured pink during her harrowing ordeal.
Kelly later told police he had been injecting methamphetamine at the time, including shortly before he arrived at the Blowholes campsite
Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith and stepdad Jake Gliddon made a surprise appearance at the sentencing and were seen arriving at the District Court of WA in Perth on Wednesday to hear the outcome.
It was the first time the pair have been seen since they were interviewed by 60 Minutes last year. The couple were reportedly paid $2million for the world exclusive television interview.
Cleo’s mother Ellie Smith and stepdad Jake Gliddon arrive at the District Court of WA in Perth on Wednesday for the sentencing for the man who abducted the little girl in October 2021
Kelly, who sat silently in the dock wearing a green shirt, will be eligible for parole after serving 11 years and six months.
His sentence will be backdated to his arrest in November 2021 and had been looking at up to 20 years behind bars.
Kelly will be 48 by the time he’s eligible for parole in May 2032.
Judge Wager described the fear, distress and trauma caused to Cleo and her parents as ‘immeasurable’.
‘Eighteen days without contact or explanation, and with hours totally on her own and no access to the outside world, would have been very traumatic,’ she said.
‘In the world of a four-year-old, one day is a very long time. In the world of a four-year-old, 18 days is a very, very long time indeed.’
The court heard Kelly had a ‘significant interest’ in dolls and Facebook pages with ‘fantasy children’.
Cleo was reported missing on October 16, 2021, sparking one of the biggest missing persons investigations in Australia’s history.
She had been staying with her family at the remote Quobba Blowholes campsite, about 960km north of Perth.
Mother Ellie Smith (pictured with Cleo and partner Jake Gliddon) awoke in the early morning to find four-year-old Cleo Smith missing from the family tent, sparking a major police investigation
Western Australian detectives were also at District Court of WA in Perth for Terrence Kelly’s sentencing
Kelly arrived at the campsite looking for items to steal before coming across the Smith family’s two-room tent, where Cleo and her younger sister were sleeping in a separate compartment.
Kelly made the opportunistic decision to snatch Cleo, lifting her up along with her sleeping bag and carrying her to his car in ‘relative silence’ and going unnoticed by her sleeping parents.
Cleo’s parents had woken at the campsite, ‘not knowing if she was alive or dead for the next 18 days’.
‘They didn’t know what happened to her or if she would ever return,’ Judge Wager said.
‘(They) were sad, scared and confused. They described being too fearful to sleep … of feeling completely empty and broken.
‘They stayed at the place that caused them so much pain, hoping their little girl would be located.’
Judge Wager noted Kelly’s deprived childhood and complex personality and developmental dysfunction.
She accepted Kelly would have been ‘far less likely’ to commit the crime if he had not been disinhibited by illicit drug use.
Terence Kelly (pictured) will be eligible for parole in May 2032. He has already spent almost 18 months behind bars
Cleo was reported missing on October 16, 2021. She had been staying with her family at the remote Blowholes campsite (pictured), about 960km north of Perth
More than 100 police were involved in the extensive search for Cleo titled Taskforce Rodia.
The Western Australian government issued a $1 million reward for information on Cleo’s whereabouts.
Police body cameras captured the moment the little girl was found playing with toy cars in a locked bedroom in the early hours of November 3 2021 when officers asked the girl what her name was, to which she famously replied: ‘My name is Cleo.’
In a much-anticipated 60 Minutes interview a year ago, Ms Smith and her fiancée detailed how Cleo at the time needed her bedroom door kept open and lights on to be able to fall asleep.
Cleo would also wake up screaming from nightmares.
They added they still didn’t know all the details about what happened, partially because Cleo had ‘blocked out’ the trauma and they were hesitant to push her to speak about it before she’s ready.
‘Her emotions are very up and down .. she’s blocked out a lot as to what’s happened, she kind of went into survivor mode and pushed it very far away,’ Ms Smith said.
The couple also revealed the Quobba Blowholes campsite was their family’s favourite spot, but they will never go back again.
The court also heard chilling new details about Cleo Smith’s abduction. Pictured is the little girl with her mum the day after she found alive and well in November 2021
