Saturday 10 October 2015

IN THEIR WORDS: William Tyrrell's parents talk of the day their boy went missing and the 'living nightmare' they endure

IN THEIR WORDS: William Tyrrell's parents talk of the day their boy went missing and the 'living nightmare' they endure


The parents of missing toddler William Tyrrell have spoken for the first time about their son’s disappearance.

In a 22-minute interview released by NSW Police today, William’s parents – who cannot be named for legal reasons – revealed their torment after their ‘vibrant’ child vanished while playing at his grandmother’s house in Kendall, on the state’s mid-north coast, in September last year.

In the heartbreaking account, the parents stress their belief he was abducted from someone outside the community, and also reveal:

•  William was "absolutely beside himself with happiness" the day he disappeared.

•  The moment they realised he was gone, his mother said, “I just thought, I can’t hear him, I can’t see him, where is he?”

•  It was the family’s first visit to William’s grandmother since his grandfather died seven months earlier

•  His mother does not believe a member of the Kendall community is involved: “I can’t see a true local who knows my family choosing to take my child”.

•  The father does not believe the boy went missing in nearby bushland: “I trod those grounds myself for three or four days, he would have been found”.

•  Both parents dismissed the suggestion the boy had wandered off: “He knows his limitations, he’s cautious”.

•  Both pleaded for the return of their boy: “It doesn’t have to end this way – just bring him back”.

Police have stressed that while the parents cannot be identified, they are not persons of interest in the case.

The interview was conducted by a member of NSW Police Media.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

KEY:
P = PoliceD = DadM  = Mum

P: Guys, this remains a high profile case, and it’s fair to say everyone’s feeling for you at the moment. But they can’t walk a mile in your shoes, because it’s not happening to them. In your words, how horrendous has this process been?

M: I don’t think there are words. It just, it’s the never ending nightmare. We wake up…we just relive it. I just can’t believe it’s happened. We just don’t have our boy, we just…we have no idea where he is, we don’t know who’s got him, we don’t know what’s happening to him, we know nothing about it - we just want it to be over.

P: That’s part of the battle isn’t it, one minute he’s there, next minute he’s vanished?

D: Yeah.

M: Yeah, it’s surreal…I’m living somebody’s else’s world, I’m in somebody else’s life.
D: It is like living a nightmare.

M: You wake up and it’s just, it’s just always here. You go about your normal day, it’s just always there. It’s never away from you, it’s constant.

P: Because you can’t extinguish that love for your boy, you’re caring parents - you’re wondering is he okay?

M: Never, never. And I have to watch, we have to watch his sister learn to play, and learn to be an only child, it’s heartbreaking.

P: When did you guys last see him?

M: That morning, on the 12th at Mum’s place.

D: About 10.15am.

P: Can you give a bit of background, what was he doing?

M: We’d gone up to visit Mum and Dad, well Mum because Dad had passed away, I keep calling it Mum and Dad’s, we’d gone to visit, it was a surprise visit.

D: We left early.

M: We left early the night before, surprised them [the kids], surprised Nanna.

P: Can you tell us what William was doing at his Nanna’s place?

M: He was playing, he was having fun, he was in his Spiderman outfit playing Daddy Tiger, I mean, it was fun, it was just normal.

D: He was doing what he would normally do.

P: And it was a surprise visit to Nanna’s?

M: Yeah we’d actually planned to go on the Friday, but we ended up the Thursday, leaving earlier, and it was a surprise for Mum and it was a surprise for the kids to go before, because they love going to Nanna’s, yeah it was a complete surprise.

P: So the kids had no idea either?

M: None, none, they were over the moon, we told them in the car once we picked them up.

D: They were excited.

M: And they were screaming with delight, because we get to do something special, which is stop at McDonalds on the way which we don’t normally do. It was just an adventure, a family going to see family.

P: And when you arrived the kids no doubt jumped out of the car and raced to see Nanna?

M: Yeah.

D: Absolutely, it’s just as exciting for Nanna as it was for the kids, she loves seeing the kids.

P: When did things start to go awry?

M: Well, when I realised that William was missing, I just, I think back to that moment where I just went, I can’t hear him, why, why can’t I hear him, and I walked around, seriously it was just 2, 3 metres away from where we were sitting, and I’ve just walked out, and I just see nothing. I see nothing, I hear nothing, I’m speechless. I’m walking around in a circle on the spot thinking, where is he, why can’t I see him, and I’m yelling out, “William, where are you, you need to talk to Mummy, tell me where you are, I can’t see you, I can’t hear you, where are you?”, and he was nowhere, and I’m just standing there thinking, how could he just disappear because he just disappeared and I don’t get it, I don’t get it.

P: Did you think initially that oh, kids being kids, he’s in a Spiderman uniform, he’s probably just climbing trees?

M: No it’s not William, it’s not William, he doesn’t do that. On that morning, before he went missing, I’d put him in a tree because Mum’s got some good climbing trees, and he was in it, and he said, “No Mummy it’s too high, get me down,” and I said to him “Why, why don’t you try?”, and he said “No Mummy too high, get me down,” so he wouldn’t be in a tree, it’s not in him.

P: So he’d pick a spot to play in and stay there?

D: Yeah he’d stay within distance knowing how far away he was from us at any given point in time.

M: Yeah, yeah, he always had us in earshot or eyesight.

D: Or he’d do the check in, he’d come back around from the corner or checking out a spot, and come and just check how far away he was from you, just do the check in.

M: He’s not a wanderer, not a child to run away. He’s got a really good sense of adventure, but he’s got a really good understanding of his limitations. He’s not a kid that would just run into something, he would stop and think, he would consider what he would do before he’d do anything else.

P: Not spontaneous?

M: Oh he’s spontaneous in terms of humour, and fun.

P: So in that case, when you’ve looked around the grounds for him and couldn’t find him, you would have thought, something’s not right here?

M: I thought that immediately, I had a vision in my head, I don’t know why, but I had a vision in my head – somebody - I can’t explain it, somebody reached over and I sort of feel like they’ve gone “clump” on his shoulders, picked him up and moved him on because to me that’s the only way, the only way I can explain for him not to be there. I don’t get it, I don’t - how can a little boy, how can a 3-year-old boy just vanish [clicks fingers] into nothing? Because that’s exactly what it was like.

P: I think it’s fair to say the community has asked that very question, particularly on a semi-rural property, kids don’t just disappear.

M: No they don’t, they don’t. My brothers have brought their kids up around there, they would run those streets with absolutely no fear. Every other house on that street with kids, those kids are on that street with absolutely no fear. There’s no reason for them not to be safe at Nanna’s house.

P: So you raised the alarm immediately?

M: Well I raced around for a bit, then went down and got the neighbour to help, then D came back, because he had a meeting.

D: I had a meeting and I arrived back and there was a bit of confusion if William was with me, because he’s always looking out for me and my car, and I was on my way back, and I’d arrived back and been asked if William was with me and I said no, then I immediately got out of the car and started looking around, and within 5 minutes we raised the alarm and I think I ran the perimeter of the whole street within about 10-15 minutes, and I mean, he wouldn’t, he’s not a wanderer, he wouldn’t even cross the street by himself. He wouldn’t go far.
Missing toddler William Tyrrell. (Supplied)

P: Parents know their own kids, don’t they.

M: He wouldn’t do it, he just wouldn’t do it, it’s not in him, even if somebody was to entice him across the road he wouldn’t do it, he’d run back, it’s just not in his character to go blindly with people. Every mother says that about their child and I realise that kids can be tempted, I understand that completely. William’s personality was, “I’m interested but I‘m cautious”, like he didn’t trust freely. I can’t see him doing it.

D: He was cautious, he’d cower away as little children would normally do, but he had this instinct about him about doing the right and wrong thing.

P: It’s a tough question, but when did you first suspect abduction?

M: In my mind it was immediate, because there was no way in the world William would have gone into that bush, it’s too thick, there’s lantana all through it. There is no way in the world he would have gone into that bush.

P: Being a cautious boy he would have thought twice?

M: It was in my head and even Mum, while I was talking with Mum while we were waiting and I was doing the frantic thing and running through the house and opening up cupboards and all sorts of stuff, I just kept going through my head, somebody’s taken him, I can’t, in my mind it was the only logical explanation for what could have happened.

D: A child in that situation, in that circumstance, in those surrounds would not just disappear into thin air. I mean I had my doubts, I did not know what to believe at the time, especially the first hour or two I didn’t know what to believe but I guess my mind was wondering as to what could have happened to him. I just had to keep on going and have the support of the community around us that were also looking for him. The police were on the scene within minutes, which was absolutely fantastic, but I didn’t know what to believe.

M: But in that community, you don’t expect somebody to take a child. I mean seriously, it’s a tiny community, everybody knows each other around those streets, there’s complete trust. I’m astounded that there could be somebody living there or people living there that could do this, it’s just not the place. You’d expect abductions in the city, you don’t expect to hear about abductions out here in Kendall, I mean it’s just ridiculous.

P: Parents are extra cautious in Sydney, but you’d probably let your guard down and be a bit disarmed in a quiet neck of the woods like that. Do you feel betrayed that someone within that community has potentially kidnapped a child?

M: I don’t think it’s somebody from the community. I think it’s somebody who doesn’t have a history there, I think it’s…If, I mean I don’t know for sure. I can’t see, I can’t see a true local who knows my Mum, who knows us, and knows our family, choosing to take our child. I can’t see that, and if that’s the case, then I feel so sorry for that community, because that is absolutely disgraceful and nobody can trust a soul. That’s not the community of Kendall, people trust each other there.

P: Dad, do you feel the same way?

D: Absolutely, I think the community is probably going through just a tough a time as we are because there are so many families there with young children who have now changed their lives as well, and the impact that’s had on them, for I don’t know what period of time but it’s disgraceful.
William in his Spiderman costume, which he was wearing the day he vanished. (AAP)

P: I’d like to have a chat about William himself, because he’s such a vibrant kid, every parent like myself has seen that photo of him in the Spiderman outfit and it just tears at the heartstrings, like you not knowing, what do you see when you look at that photo?

M: I took the photo, I took three photos, I do photo books, of what we do as a family every year. So every time we go somewhere I have my camera and I just take pictures of what they’re doing, and I thought Mum’s getting old, be really good for William and his sister to have memories of being at Mum’s. And my Dad passed away in February that year so that was really the first time we’d been back since Dad passed away, and we were going to go visit Dad’s grave, they were drawing some pictures to put on his grave, they were sending messages to Opa and things like that. I just thought, I want to just take some pictures of that.

So I look at that picture and I remember what we were doing and why we were doing it. I remember William just being absolutely beside himself with happiness at being at Nanna’s house, I remember the discussion with William about putting on his Spiderman clothes because I wanted him to wear a singlet, he didn’t want to wear a singlet, so the compromise was he’d wear a Spiderman t-shirt underneath his Spiderman clothes, so he was Spidermanned out, completely.

All these little things that I just remember, it was just, a normal family, doing normal family things, with their grandmother. D had an appointment which is not unusual, he works remotely. We were going to wait for him to come home and then we were going to go and visit Dad’s grave, then we were going to go out, so we’d planned the day. And I look at that picture and I just think, minutes, minutes, and our world has changed. His sister no longer has a brother, we no longer have a son, we no longer have a child, we no longer have our boy. My Mum is coping with her own grief because it happened at her house, it’s just awful.

P: She can’t blame herself.

M: No she doesn’t, well I hope she doesn’t, no she can’t.

P: What sort of boy is William?

D: He’s vibrant, the cheeky, vibrant little boy, but you know, full of energy, but loves interacting with his sister, he loved interacting with us. I mean he’s my little boy, I mean when I see that photo it just brings me to tears.

P: They’re pretty cheeky at that age.

D: Very cheeky, but also they’ve got that love you know, and, the father and boy love that, he had, it was just…

M: He adored his dad, just absolutely, his eyes and there was a smile. I look back at some of the pictures, and I look at pictures where William was smiling for me, and I was looking at pictures where William was smiling for his Dad, and it’s different.

P: Daddy’s little boy?

M: Completely, they adored each other, absolutely adored each other, and it’s heartbreaking.

P: What were his likes? What did he like to do?

D: Anything that related to Spiderman, he loved Spiderman, he loved planes, and we’d even taken him to the airport and watched the planes take off and land, you know, I guess they pick up on the things that you like as well, but anything relating to Spiderman and superheros and those sorts of things, he loved.

M: We’d got him a bike for his birthday, so we’d all go bike riding together, and he was just in heaven. He was just…We’ve got pictures of William riding this bike, and there is just unbridled joy, just over his face, he was just free, and he was really good. Just racing, just wanted to get on that bike and just ride it.
William's parents said he loves "anything Spiderman related". (AAP)
William's parents said he loves "anything Spiderman related".

P: What do you think has happened to William?

D: It’s a hard question. I think if I can answer it by saying, I’d trod those grounds myself for three or four days, every morning until almost nightfall, we had Pol Air, we had police, we had SES, we had the community, if he was out there in the bush, he would have been found, which you know, as I was walking through the bush with other people, it became more aware to me as time went on that this is not a normal event. This is not a child gone missing in the bush, this is heading down the path of abduction or something more sinister. That’s what I believe, what I truly believe now, and I still pray to this day that he’s alive.

P: You can’t give up hope can you? You read about those cases in America where 10 years on, they’re rescued.

M: If somebody has him, and if he is alive, I…I, want him to be safe, I want him to be feeling loved, and I want someone to be looking after him. Because to imagine that something else is going on, we can’t live a life like that, we need to know where he is, and we need to know what happened to him. We can’t live forever like this, his sister can’t grow up never knowing what happened to her brother.

P: If someone does have him, what message would you have for them right now?

M: Just give him back.

D: Do the right thing, drop him off.

M: Give him back, take him to a church, take him to a police station, take him to a school, give him to someone, give him back.

P: In the same vein, if someone knows something, what would you say to them if they haven’t come forward, for some reason, if they’re scared?

D: It’s time to do something, it’s time to say something.

M: There are too many people whose hearts are breaking here. If you don’t care about us, care about William’s sister, care about his family, care about the people who have to grow up with this, never knowing. He has a sister that’s going to be permanently identified as someone who is the sister of a little boy who is missing. That’s not fair, that’s not fair, think about the children, it’s you know, it doesn’t have to be about us, it’s about the children and it’s about William.

D: And it doesn’t have to end this way, if he’s alive, as my wife said - just, drop him off.

M: Just take him somewhere, exactly, you can’t take children, you just can’t take children, he’s three, he’s three years old, he’s only lived for three years, it’s ridiculous.
William has been missing since September last year. (AAP)
William has been missing since September last year.

P: He hasn’t started life.

M: He hasn’t, he hasn’t started, he hasn’t gone to school, he can sort of count. He’s reached none of those milestones that we all take for granted, and we watch his sister go through all these stages, we watch her learn new skills, we watch her create more friends, we watch her grow, you want that for your children, they have a future.

P: Often people may have seen something that they don’t think is totally relevant, dismiss it as a minor part of an equation, what would you say to those people who may have the slightest bit of information but have not come forward?

D: Say something to police straight away.

M: Yeah.

D: Because what they say or what they bring is another piece to the puzzle that can at least get us closer to an outcome. As I said before we’re praying for a miracle for him to return alive, but praying for an outcome so at least we can know what’s happened, that’s the goal at the end of the day.

P: If they don’t come forward, or even the person who might be very close to whoever’s done this, if they don’t come forward….you don’t want this happening to anyone else.

Both: No.

M: You said right at the beginning, walk a mile in our shoes? You can’t walk a mile in our shoes unless it’s actually happened, and I don’t think any parent, anywhere, deserves to walk a mile in our shoes. It shouldn’t happen - it just should not happen.

If you have any information that could assist police with their investigation, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. 
Callers can remain anonymous and all information is treated with the strictest confidence.

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/04/17/12/28/read-the-full-transcript-from-william-tyrrells-parents#l35hJkS1lcyYwmdZ.99

No comments:

Post a Comment