A 36-year-old man in Australia has been charged with abducting a four-year-old girl from a remote campsite where she was camping with her family.
Cleo Smith was returned to her family 18 days after first disappearing from the campsite overnight along with her sleeping bag.
The four-year-old was found in a locked house in a town around 100km from where the child was last seen.
The Australian man was twice taken to hospital for self-inflicted injuries before being interviewed and charged with various offences related to the abduction of Cleo Smith, police in Western Australia state said in a statement.
The man, aged 36, appeared in court in the town of Carnarvon charged with forcibly or fraudulently taking or enticing a child under 16.
The girl had last been seen in her family's tent in the early hours of 16 October at the remote Blowholes Shacks campsite in Macleod.
Her disappearance sparked an extensive search involving land, air and CCTV footage.
She was found safe yesterday when police broke into a house in Carnarvon, a town about 100km south of the campsite on the far northwest coast of the state.
"Our family is whole again," her mother, Ellie Smith, wrote on Instagram.
Authorities said the man had no connection to the Smith family.
He has been remanded in custody until 6 December, according to local media reports.
ABC News reported that the man had been recently spotted by a neighbour buying nappies.
A Carnarvon local tells @Ben_Downie he saw a man living in the house where Cleo Smith was found buying nappies on Monday, but "didn't click" that they were for the missing four-year-old. pic.twitter.com/0oc9yiaAQj
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) November 2, 2021
A police video caught the moment an officer picked up the child and asked her, "What's your name? The girl replied, "My name is Cleo," according to police.
"When she said 'My name is Cleo,' I don't think there was a dry eye in the house," Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch told 6PR radio.
"I have seen seasoned detectives openly crying with relief. I am speechless, which is very rare ... this is something we all hoped in our hearts, and it has come true."
The moment 4-year-old #CleoSmith was rescued. “One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her ‘What’s your name?’” The police commissioner said. "‘My name is Cleo,' she said. This is the outcome we all hoped and prayed for.” #Miracle #Australia pic.twitter.com/f1Fn2d3QJ7
— Josh Benson (@WFLAJosh) November 3, 2021
