Cleo Smith’s abductor learns fate
Terence Kelly has learned his fate after his lawyers attempted to have his sentence reduced.
Kelly abducted Cleo Smith from her parents' tent at a remote West Australian campsite north of Carnarvon in late 2021, sparking a massive manhunt before she was found at his home by police 18 days later.
The 37-year-old appealed to have his 13 year and six months sentence shortened, with the decision handed down in court on Monday that the sentence would stand.
After being jailed in April 2023 following his admission that he kidnapped Cleo, his lawyers argued his mental impairments, including severe personality dysfunction, contributed to his decision to snatch the young girl.
His lawyers also maintained the sentencing judge erred in finding Kelly's use of methamphetamine had a "significant and causal role in the offending".
They also say the judge didn't give enough consideration to Kelly's childhood disadvantage and trauma.
In sentencing, WA District Court Chief Judge Julie Wager said Kelly's actions were at the "highest level of seriousness" and that Cleo and her family would be "permanently impacted".
In the court's ruling on Monday, the court accepted the sentence was "severe" but found it reflected the seriousness of the crime.
"On any view, the appellant's abduction of such a young and highly vulnerable child from her parents, at night, and then holding her captive in his house for 18 days was extraordinarily serious," Justices Robert Mazza and Stephen Hall found.
"As tragic as the appellant's background is, the sad fact remains that his risk of reoffending required that the sentence imposed upon him have regard to the sentencing objective of public protection."
Kelly had faced a maximum of 20 years in jail but he got a 25 per cent discount of five years for his early guilty plea.
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