missing 6 year old australian girl Kiesha

Robert Smith said that homicide detectives had identified him as a suspect in the little girl's disappearance - and likely murder.

"Absolutely, they think I did it," he said.

Mr Smith, of Mt Druitt in Sydney's west, denied killing Kiesha, saying he loved her as if she was his own daughter.

Mr Smith said investigators "got tough" with him and demanded he reveal where Kiesha's body had been dumped.

He said police assured him they would "help him" - with counselling and care - if he disclosed what he had done.

"They said 'lead us to her body' and that sort of thing. It was pretty tough," he said.

Asked if he killed Kiesha, or if he had hurt her in any way that may have accidentally caused her death, Mr Smith denied it.

"There is no way in the world," he said.

Mr Smith, his partner Kristi Abrahams and Kiesha's father Chris Weippeart were all questioned separately by police the same night, but Mr Smith appeared to be the only person asked where the body was. "Kristi said they didn't ask her that," Mr Smith said.

Mr Weippeart said he was questioned about his relationship with Ms Abrahams, and asked to recall relevant dates since Kiesha was born.

Police denied they had given up hope of finding Kiesha alive and were searching for a body, despite divers spending most of the day scouring dams in outer suburban Marsden Park. "The longer it progresses, the graver it becomes ... but they are keeping an open mind," a police spokeswoman said.

Kiesha was reported missing on Sunday but had not been seen by the rest of the family since about July 7. Police confirmed they seized a vacuum cleaner, a computer and clothing from Mr Smith and Ms Abrahams' house.

As police divers searched dams for the body of Kiesha Abrahams, the recriminations and accusations between the missing girl's separated parents boiled over.

Police said they had been told of allegations that Kiesha's father, Christopher Weippeart, pointed a gun at his daughter, her half-sister, Brianna, and her stepfather, Robert Smith, last month.

And the NSW Ombudsman has announced he will investigate the role of government agencies in the child's protection.

Kylie Marshall, a friend of Kiesha's mother, told the Herald the gun allegations had been reported to police only after the child's disappearance.

''Four weeks ago the father rode past on a bike when Robbie was out hanging the clothes on the line with the two girls, Brianna and Kiesha, and pointed a gun at them,'' she said.

But a spokesman for Mr Weippeart said he was at Nepean Hospital at the time, having his toe amputated. ''We don't want a trial by media; we've heard these allegations,'' he said.

Ms Marshall also alleged Mr Weippeart had not seen his daughter for five years and had signed court documents saying he did not want contact with her.

Her comments follow statements by Mr Weippeart that Kiesha had been bitten by an adult. Channel Nine reported last night that her mother, Kristi Abrahams, had been charged with assault over the incident, but had no conviction recorded against her.

Police also questioned Kiesha's stepfather. Mr Smith told News Ltd that they asked him to ''lead us to her body'' and said they would help with counselling if he co-operated. He said there was ''no way in the world'' he would have hurt Kiesha. He also said that police had not asked Ms Abrahams about a body.

Police searched quarries in Mount Druitt and bushland and dams in Marsden Park, where - according to a tip-off - a girl fitting Kiesha's description had been led away by a man on either Saturday or Sunday morning. The search is to continue today.

Community workers spent nearly an hour with the family last night.

The NSW Ombudsman's office has announced it will investigate the role of government agencies in the child's protection. It is an unusual move, as previous inquiries have occurred only after a child had been found dead.

The inquiry follows reports that at least three government departments - Community Services, Health and Education - had been involved with the girl.

The Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, called for details of all files held by government departments. He said that in the light of concerns raised in recent days, he would be conducting inquiries into relevant activities by key agencies before the child's disappearance.

In the two key cases that led up to the 2008 Wood special commission on child protection services - that of Dean Shillingworth and the one involving the child known only as Ebony - both cases emerged only once the child had died.

The Herald reported yesterday that Kiesha had previously been removed from, and then returned, to her mother.

She was reported missing about 10am on Sunday. Her mother told police she had last seen her when she had been put to bed at 9.30pm.

NSW Community Services Minister Linda Burney has admitted taking an interest in the welfare of missing Sydney girl Kiesha Abrahams' two younger siblings.

Ms Burney on Friday declined to comment on the search for the six-year-old, now entering its sixth day.

But she revealed she had looked into the welfare of Kiesha's two siblings, three-year-old sister Brianna and newborn brother Levi.

"The answer is yes, but I am very much being led by what the police are advising us at the moment," she told ABC Radio, when asked if she had paid a special interest to the children's welfare.

"I know that there is a great clamouring for information, but I am in a position, and I have to be responsible, about what I can say about this actual incident.

"People know that there is a homicide investigation involved and we need to be very careful and responsible about what we say."

Kiesha was reported missing from her home at Mount Druitt in western Sydney on Sunday morning, and is not believed to have been seen by anyone outside her immediate family since July 7.

NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour said on Thursday he would make inquiries into "relevant activities by key agencies" leading up to her disappearance, with reports surfacing the child and her family were known to several government bodies.

Ms Burney defended the state's child protection system, which recently had a $750 million shake-up, following recommendations of a 2008 special commission of inquiry.

The inquiry, headed by retired Justice James Wood, was commissioned following the shocking deaths of children Dean Shillingsworth and a girl known only as Ebony.

Under the changes, only children deemed at significant risk are now handled by the Department of Community Services (DoCs)

All other cases are managed by non-government organisations and government agencies within the health, housing, police and education sectors.

"I'm very confident with (the system)," Ms Burney said.

"It is a new system where there is a shared responsibility for child protection, not just with government, but also with family and the community.

"There is no child protection system in the world ... that is going to prevent every death - that is the simple reality that we all, both within the child protection system and in the public, understand."

Kiesha's stepfather Robert Smith, mother Kristy Abrahams and biological father, Christopher Weippeart, were all interviewed for several hours by police on Wednesday.

AnnaEsse wrote:The Australian
Which is not to claim, of course, that Kiesha was abused - let alone murdered. Her parents and stepfather have denied any involvement in her disappearance.

As of last night her fate remained a mystery. But a week after she was reported missing, the concerns are mounting."

Forensic police are now focusing on the family home of missing girl Kiesha Abrahams.

Officers entered the western Sydney apartment, which has been surrounded by crime scene tape, early this afternoon to re-examine the home.

Kiesha lived in the apartment with her mother, stepfather, three-year-old sister and newborn brother.

Her mother Kristi said she last saw her six-year-old daughter when putting her to bed on the night of Saturday, July 31.

The apartment has been empty since Kiesha's family moved out late last week. They are reportedly living in a motel.

A group of locals has gathered outside the house in front of the apartment block as police continue their re-examination, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Police have also been re-investigating the death of Kiesha's baby brother Aiden, who died in 2002, aged six weeks, from apparent cot death.

"Looking at the death of the first child to see exactly what happened will be part of the investigation," Detective Inspector Russell Oxford said. "

Dimsie wrote:Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but is it known if the police have used sniffer dogs in this case, in Kiesha's home, I mean? I'm sure they have cadaver and blood dogs available and with the way the police suspicions seem to be directed the dogs might be very useful.

Poor little Kiesha, if that report about her being hit in the face is true. How horrible.

wjk wrote:Poor little girl.
It's not sounding too good, is it.

AnnaEsse wrote:

wjk wrote:Poor little girl.
It's not sounding too good, is it.

It's not, is it? It's so sad that some children spend a good part of their lives being abused and then just discarded, which I think is what had happened to that lovely little girl with the beautiful eyes and flowing curls.

AnnaEsse wrote:Dimsie, I haven't seen any mention of dogs, but since they are used so regularly by police forces throughout the world, that has surprised me. The police were removing interior doors, bits of skirting boards and rolls of carpet. So, maybe they've just been in there with the Luminol.