Rizna Mutmainah
Family & Pets

Charlise Mutten's mum breaks silence

Kallista Mutten, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Charlise Mutten, has broken her silence in her first ever television interview. 

Nine-year-old Charlise was brutally murdered by her mother's then fiancée Justin Stein at his family home in the Blue Mountains, Sydney in January 2022. 

In August, Stein was sentenced to life in jail without parole, after he was found guilty of Charlise's murder, having shot the little girl twice before dumping her body in a barrel. 

Since Charlise's murder, Kallista had been harassed in public and abused by people on public transport to the extent she could no longer go outside. 

In an upcoming interview for 60 Minutes that will air this Sunday night, Kallista broke her silence. 

"I'm not this monster, this unfit mother," she told reporter Dimity Clancey in a newly released preview. 

"Charlise deserved more."

"I miss her so much, she believed in me," she continued through tears. 

Many have blamed her for the horrific murder that happened while Charlise was in her care. At the time, Charlise was visiting her mum and Stein in Sydney for Christmas from the Gold, where she lived with her grandparents. 

She spent the night of January 11 alone with Stein at his property in the Blue Mountains, while her mother stayed at a caravan about a 90-minute drive away. 

"I hate myself for it, I really do," Kallista said. 

The preview also showed footage of an agitated Stein pacing around the police interview room, while blaming Charlise's mum for the murder. 

"It was all her. I can't sit here and cover for her," he said. 

Kallista denied having any involvement in her daughter's death and broke down in tears during a hearing, where she read a victim's impact statement via audio video link. 

"(Charlise) just longed for you to be her dad. I just hate myself for being so wrong about you," she said at the time. 

"I am forced to live with fact I trusted someone and because of my trust I put my daughter in harm's way."

In the 60 Minutes preview, a police detective said that Stein "weaved a web of wicked lies and deception", with Kallista describing her former partner as "pure evil". 

Images: Nine

Tags:
Family & Pets, Charlise Mutten, Kallista Mutten, Justin Stein, Murder, 60 Minutes