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Lawyers for one of the parents appeared in the Downing Center District Court in Sydney on Wednesday, about two-and-a-half months after they were both sentenced by a local magistrate.
The couple, who cannot be legally named or identified, were found to have terrorized a child other than William on separate occasions.
The mother’s threats to slap the child twice amounted to intimidation, Magistrate Susan McIntyre found in March.
The woman was heard telling the child: “I shouldn’t get to the point where I threaten to hurt you because it’s a huge problem.”
She previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault after hitting the child with a wooden spoon and kicking him in the thigh.
The foster father was also convicted of once scaring the child while driving to school when the youngster was heard crying and sobbing.
Prosecutors relied on more than 1,000 hours of secret recordings made in the couple’s home and vehicles over 14 months in 2020 and 2021.
The recordings were made by detectives investigating the disappearance of three-year-old William, who disappeared while playing at his foster grandmother’s home in Kendal on the New Wales north coast on September 12, 2014.
McIntyre acquitted the foster mother on five counts of intimidation and dismissed one charge of assaulting the child against the foster father.
The pair were convicted and given a 12-month good behavior bond.
They will then appear briefly at Downing Center District Court on June 25.
Police inquiries into whether the foster mother was involved in William’s disappearance have been suspended while the investigation into the toddler’s death is reopened.
Investigators had briefed prosecutors to consider potential charges against the woman they believe may have disposed of William’s body after his accidental death.
She has always denied having anything to do with William’s disappearance.
No one has been charged in the case and there is still a $1 million reward for information.
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