Cleo Smith: Man, 36, charged with abduction of four-year-old girl who went missing in Australia

A 36-year-old man has appeared in court, charged with the abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith in Australia.

The child was found by police on Wednesday 3 November after police raided a locked house in Carnarvon in the west of the country.

She had been missing for 18 days after she was abducted from her family’s tent on a campsite.

Unplanned and ‘opportunistic’

Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, appeared at Carnarvon Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, he was not required to enter a plea when he was charged with forcibly or fraudulently taking or enticing a child under 16.

Mr Kelly was reportedly taken to hospital by officers for self-inflicted injuries before being charged, he did not apply for bail.

Cleo was found in a locked home in the town of Carnarvon, some 100km (62 miles) south of the remote campsite where she had last been seen, but just a few kilometres from her own family home, according to local media reports.

Cleo is now back home with her parents, who have no link to Mr Kelly.

"Our family is whole again," her mother, Ellie Smith, wrote on Instagram, after Chleo was released from hospital after a check up.

Meanwhile, Kelly has been remanded in custody until 6 December, according to local media reports.

Searching for ‘a needle in a haystack’

Police previously described the kidnapping as unplanned and "opportunistic", they believe he acted alone when he snatched the four-year-old from her tent.

As the search for Cleo intensified, officers had said searching for her was like “looking for a needle in a haystack,” and upon hearing she was found alive, deputy commissioner Col Blanch told local radio of "seasoned detectives openly crying with relief”.

Mr Kelly’s neighbours expressed shock that he might have been involved, telling the West Australian newspaper he was a "very quiet" man who "kept to himself" but was known to everyone on the street.

ABC News reported that the man had been recently spotted by a neighbour buying nappies.

A recording of the moment she was found has been released to the media, in which an officer can be heard saying "we’ve got her, we’ve got her", and asking the child her name.

"My name is Cleo," she responds, to the delight of the officers, who say: "Hello Cleo!"

Detective Sergeant Cameron Blaine said she was alert and aware when he and his colleague found her.

Det Blaine has now visited Cleo at home and said he was "amazed she seems to be so well-adjusted and happy" after her ordeal.

"It was really heart-warming to see her interacting and playing in the backyard and just being herself and around her parents," he said.

According to Reuters news agency, specialists will now be brought in to interview Cleo, while her parents have been given help in how to preserve her memories of the incident.