William Tyrrell's former foster parents appear to berate child in secret recordings played to court – ABC News

William Tyrrell's former foster parents appear to berate child in secret recordings played to court
William Tyrrell's former foster mother has wept in a Sydney court while it heard secret recordings of heated arguments between her and a child, as she and her husband face charges of assault and intimidation.  
The 58-year-old and her husband, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, fronted Parramatta Court on Tuesday for the second day of a five-day hearing.
The former foster parents were charged in 2021 with assault and intimidation of a child in Sydney's north shore.
The child is not missing toddler William Tyrrell, who disappeared from his foster grandmother's home on the NSW Mid-North Coast in 2014.
On Monday, the woman pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault but denied two counts of stalking or intimidation of the child, while her partner pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and intimidation.
Prosecutor John Marsh told the court the pair's home and cars were bugged for about a year, as part of the police investigation into William's disappearance.
Mr Marsh played several excerpts of the recordings in court, including one in which the child was crying for help and saying, "I am calling the police", before the woman asked the child to "stand up".
As it was played in court, the woman appeared visibly distraught and sobbed with her head in her hands while her partner consoled her.
In a subsequent recording, the woman was heard telling her husband that the child was "hit really hard with a wooden spoon", to which he responds, "We've got a big problem".
Mr Marsh said the purpose of playing the recordings was to ensure the court could hear "the tone, volume and manner" in which the words were spoken.
On Tuesday, the court heard a recording in which the former foster father appeared to berate the child in an expletive-laden tirade, calling them a "f***ing stupid little s**t", and saying "we've fed you, we've housed you and you treat us like s**t".
The following day, he was captured in another recording saying while the child "might've felt scared", he was "so exhausted because what you do consumes everyone".
Nearly four hours of recordings are expected to be heard over the course of the hearing.
It is scheduled to end on Friday, with the defence yet to present their case.
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