Police will allege William Tyrrell’s adoptive parents assaulted a girl by grabbing her by the neck, kicking her and hitting her with a wooden spoon.
The allegations emerged after a court lifted a suppression order in the criminal case.
In November 2021 a police task force charged the adoptive parents of William, who disappeared from Kendall on the NSW north coast in 2014, with assault and harassment in connection with an alleged attack against a girl.
Police say the couple were trying to intervene in the child’s ‘problematic behaviour’.
The allegations include that she was placed on a 44-minute timeout, the girl was grabbed by the neck, kicked and hit with a wooden spoon, causing her pain.
It is also alleged that William’s adoptive mother suggested that if the girl defecated on the floor, she would rub the child’s face there.
Details of the police allegations came to light after several media organizations successfully challenged the lifting of the crackdown order in the Supreme Court.
The couple denied all charges.
William’s adoptive mother is due to face Parramatta court at the end of the month.