In order to do that, counsel assisting the coroner, Gerard Craddock SC, first asked William's foster carers to spend two days recounting haunting memories of the initial disappearance and search. "My immediate thought was someone has taken him," his foster mother tearfully told the court. It's been well-publicised that William's biological parents are battlers - known to child protection and legal authorities - while his foster parents are professionals from an affluent Sydney suburb. When the first week of hearings concluded William's biological grandmother told reporters she felt her family had been scrutinised more harshly. On the other side of the court William's biological grandmother cried too.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 30, 2019 04:52 UTC