Justin Laurens Stein will spend his life behind bars for the “execution”-style murder of nine-year-old Charlise Mutten.
Stein was found guilty in June of shooting Charlise in the back of the head with a rifle and dumping her body in a barrel near the Colo River in January 2022.
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Charlise lived permanently with her grandparents in Tweed Heads, Queensland, and had been visiting her mother, Kallista Mutten, and Stein in the Stein family’s Mount Wilson estate in the Blue Mountains.
Stein denied killing Charlise but admitted to dumping her body, which was found following a four-day search.
Ms Mutten, who was Stein’s fiance at the time of the murder, had accused him of murdering Charlise during the trial.
Justice Helen Wilson told the NSW Supreme Court Stein failed to demonstrate “any shred of remorse” for a “shockingly callous crime”.
“Having murdered a nine-year-old girl, all the offender’s energy was spent covering his tracks and directing blame elsewhere,” she said.
“Some instances of murder are so grave that the maximum penalty is the only appropriate penalty.
NSW Police detective superintendent Danny Doherty said “very dedicated, determined investigators” assisted in bringing Stein’s case to trial.
“It was horrendous circumstances, and they were determined to get a result, and they did,” he said.
“I’m very proud of their efforts and they should be recognised and commended for their duty and their investigation.”