Justin Stein sentenced to life in prison for murder of nine-year-old schoolgirl Charlise Mutten

Justin Laurens Stein has been sentenced to life in prison for the execution-style murder of nine-year-old schoolgirl Charlise Mutten in the Blue Mountains.

Stein was today sentenced to the maximum term of life in prison after being found guilty of shooting and dumping the schoolgirl’s body in a barrel near the Colo River, southwest of Sydney, in January 2022.

At trial, Stein accused Charlise’s mother, Kallista Mutten, who was his fiancée at the time, of murdering her own daughter.

Justice Helen Wilson told the NSW Supreme Court today that Stein had failed to show “any remorse” for such a “shocking and cruel crime”.

“After murdering a nine-year-old girl, the offender devoted all his energy to covering his tracks and shifting the blame onto someone else,” Judge Wilson said.

“Some cases of murder are so serious that the maximum sentence is the only appropriate punishment.”

Charlise in her school uniform — Justin Laurens Stein was convicted of shooting nine-year-old Charlise Mutten. (Facebook: Tweed Heads Public School )

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Judge Wilson said the sequence of gunshots in Charlise’s killing was “almost execution-like.”