Charlise Mutten murder: Mum Kallista Mutten breaks silence after fiance found guilty of ‘heinous’ slaying

The mother of murdered schoolgirl Charlise Mutten has tearfully declared she hates herself for placing her trust in her daughter’s killer in an emotional new interview.

The nine-year-old was shot dead by her mum’s fiance, Justin Stein in January 2022 while on a Christmas holiday in the Blue Mountains.

Charlise had been living with her grandparents but they’d allowed her mother, Kallista Mutten, to take her for the holiday period.

Stein was jailed for life in August after a jury found him guilty of murdering Charlise before stuffing her body in a barrel and dumping it near the Colo River.

At trial he argued Ms Mutten killed her daughter and that he’d helped cover it up — an account the jury rejected.

Sentencing Stein, Justice Helen Wilson said his actions were “unspeakably vicious”, noting the nine-year-old girl called him “daddy”.

“This was a shockingly callous crime of very great heinousness; it was gravely reprehensible and extremely wicked,” she said.

“There are no facts which can mitigate its seriousness.”

Kallista had met Stein in 2018 while they were both in prison, beginning a relationship after they were released and believing they both wanted to work towards a better life.

“I am forced to live with the fact that I trusted someone with my daughter and that because of my trust in someone, I put my daughter in harm’s way,” She told 60 Minutes on Sunday.

I hate myself for it. I really do. It’s taken this for me to wake up and realise that I already had someone that loved me … He’s a monster, pure evil.”

The pair moved into Stein’s Mount Wilson home, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

At the end of 2021 Charlise’s grandparents agreed to let her spend the holidays with Kallista and Stein.

Ms Mutten said Stein had asked Charlise to call him daddy, saying he was “always going to be a father figure”.

“That was a very touching moment for both of us because she’s always longed for a dad,” she said.

In the days leading up to her death, the trio were staying in a caravan on the Hawkesbury River, when Stein said he was going to return to Mount Wilson and Charlise asked to go with him on January 11.

Ms Mutten reported her missing three days later.

She told 60 Minutes her relationship with Stein had been erratic, in no small part due to their drug use, but she never believed he was capable of what happened.

“The thought of what she had gone, would’ve gone through, that’s … that’s what breaks me,” Ms Mutten said.

“There is just not enough justice that will make it better for me and my family.”

The court found Stein killed Charlise within a 15-hour period between the evening of January 11 and the morning of January 12.

He returned on January 12, lying and claiming Charlise was sick and being cared for.

They returned to the empty Mount Wilson home 11 hours later after consuming drugs and having sex in Centennial Park, with Stein now claiming Charlise had been kidnapped and convinced her not to contact police.

Lead Investigator, Detective Sergeant Brad Gardiner, told 60 Minutes Ms Mutten was an easy scapegoat and received a lot of hate but is now forced to live with her decisions.

Ms Mutten said she understands why she was judged and now knows “Charlise deserved more”.

“I do take accountability of the things that I have done,” she said.

“I wish I had been there more for her and, like, I see that now and I’ve got to live with that.”

She told the program she hopes Charlise is remembered as a bundle of joy with a kind soul.

“We just had this amazing connection and that she just absolutely, she was my number one fan,” she said.

“She just was just the most incredible amazing little girl.”