Accused murderer Justin Stein sobs as he claims Charlise Mutten’s mother shot her in the face – as he gives his account of the schoolgirl’s last moments and the horror scene he found

The man accused of murdering Charlise Mutten has cried in court over his claims she was shot by her own mother and his version of the schoolgirl’s final moments.

Justin Stein told the jury in his murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court that Kallista Mutten shot her daughter in the face and back before shouting at him: “You made me do this.”

Stein said he had been on his family property when he heard a shot ring out and Charlise scream his name and then shout “Mama, no” before a second shot rang out.

‘I walked to the gate. Then I saw Charlise on the ground. (Kallista) had a gun in her hand,” he told the court from the witness stand Monday.

“I said, ‘What the hell did you do?’ and she started screaming, “You did this.” She kept yelling, “You did this,” and then she yelled, “You made me do this.”

Charlise Mutten, 9, was on holiday from her home near Tweed Heads when she was allegedly murdered with a shotgun wound to the head and her body dumped in a barrel

“She yelled at me to get a tarp. I said no.” Then she raised the gun as if to shoot. I raised both hands.”

Stein said he then went into a shed and after about 10 minutes found a blue tarp, but when he came out, both Kallista and Charlise were gone.

He said he cut an ‘8 inch black square out of the ground’ before walking back to the main house of his family’s estate at Wildenstein, on Mount Wilson in the NSW Blue Mountains.

“I went … straight to my bedroom … sat there shaking, rolled myself a joint, burst into tears for ten to 15 minutes, stopped crying, smoked that joint and fell asleep,” he said.

Stein gave his dramatic account of events about an hour after he took the stand to testify at his trial for the alleged murder of the nine-year-old schoolgirl.

The suspect, dressed in a gray suit, cream shirt and dark tie, and sporting a beard and moustache, entered the witness box at 10:07 am.

Stein, 34, denies killing Charlise but admits disposing of her body.

Stein is said to have hidden the child’s body in a plastic barrel and dumped it 50 km away on the banks of the Colo River.

He admitted in court to having used heroin since the age of 12 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 21.

Justin Stein is on trial for the murder of Charlise Mutten. The 33-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the January 2022 shooting

He said he first met Ms Mutten in prison in Kempsey on the NSW Mid North Coast and the pair started seeing each other when they got out of prison.

Charlise visited Mrs Mutten and herself during the 2021/22 school holidays and spent time in NSW between Wildenstein and Riviera Ski Gardens caravan park in Lower Portland, where Stein owned a van.

Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC has claimed Stein was the ‘last person’ to see Charlise and had the opportunity to kill her between 7.16pm on January 11 and 10.06am on January 12.

But in his testimony Monday, Stein said the child was shot and killed by her mother on the evening of Jan. 12.

He also claimed that Charlise had been sick and vomited after her mother gave the child his schizophrenia medication.

Charlise, 9, was reportedly shot dead at the Stein family estate at Mount Wilson and then her remains were placed in a barrel in the back of Mr Stein’s red Holden Colorado car and dumped on the riverbank.

After the nine-year-old’s body was recovered from the banks of the Colo River, forensic investigators discovered she had two gunshot wounds, one of which proved fatal to her face.

The prosecutor told the court that Stein and Ms Mutten “burgled a house on Mount Wilson” and stole two firearms, which he said was “material to the case” and to the murder charge.

It is alleged that a .22 caliber bolt action rifle was the murder weapon.

Charlise lived with her grandparents in Tweed Heads before traveling south from December 21 to spend time with her mother and Stein.

Kallista Mutten, an ice cream addict, had met Justin Stein while they were both serving prison sentences for drug-related crimes and continued their relationship after their release

Mrs Mutten called Triple-0 on January 14, 2022 at 8.15 am and reported her daughter missing.

The trial before Judge Helen Wilson continues.