“Next to the bed, like, there’s a bit of timber, and she… what, she’s hit her head on that?”
“Okay, and that’s when you say that you did… what? You took her in the shower then?”
“Yes, we tried to wake her up. When you get the cold water and trying to wake her up, and you put it in the suitcase… now I need to know. He buried… dug a hole, and then we went there. He put her in there.”
“Who was carrying Kaisha?”
“She was so sweet, right? I don’t know, she just started making weird noises before it would go away, and she didn’t… and then in the morning, she was…”
1st of August 2010. A triple-zero call was made from Mount Druitt in Western Sydney. A little girl was missing. Her mother had tucked her into bed the night before, and by the next morning, she had vanished.
“Hi, I’m… I’ve just gotten up and went to the toilet and noticed that my front door was open and my daughter’s not here.”
“We just get the police on their way out there, okay? How old is your daughter?”
“She’s six.”
“She’s six, yes. Have you checked all the units?”
“No, like, I’m just but…”
“Okay, what’s your name?”
“Christy.”
“I’m… my mom… okay, Christy. What’s your last name?”
“Abrahams.”
“What’s your daughter’s name?”
“Kaisha.”
“What is it?”
“Kaisha.”
“Spell it.”
“K-A-I-E-S-H-A.”
“Yep. Okay, so she as far as you know, she would be in her pajamas, or you don’t know?”
“Yes, she’s in her pajamas.”
“Okay. So what time would you have last seen her last night?”
“I put her to bed after 3:00 to 10.”
“And do you have any other family that live in the unit block?”
“No.”
“Any neighbors that she would talk to?”
“No. No. I’ve just let the police know. We’ve got police… we’ve got everybody on their way out to see you, okay? And she’s never done this?”
“No, like she gets up and plays, like in the middle of the night… she looks like a record window before we went over… but I don’t… I don’t think I… I don’t know.”
“Okay, and you… is it just the two of you that live there?”
“I’ve got a 2-year-old and a 3-week-old baby.”
“And are they still there?”
“Yeah, they’re still here, they’re still there. Yes. And my… the kids’ father, he… here as well.”
“He’s there as well, looking for her.”
“Okay. Now Christy, we have got everybody on their way out there.”
“So he’s out yelling the streets for us?”
“Yeah, he’s gone looking for her.”
“What’s his name?”
“Robert.”
“Robert, yeah. Robert…”
“Robert Smith.”
“And you’ve looked in all the cupboards?”
“Yeah, he’s not here. I looked everywhere.”
The caller was Christy Abrahams, the mother of the missing child, Kaisha. As police descended on the scene, they knew they had to act fast as the first few hours of a child being reported missing are critical. They needed to speak to as many people as possible to put together a timeline of Kaisha’s last known movements and try and narrow down leads as quickly as possible. Christy was no longer with Kaisha’s biological father, Chris Whippett, so officers headed over to speak to him. At around 10:45 that morning, they talked with Chris, who said he had been at home with his mother before heading out to get a tattoo.
Christy’s best friend and neighbor, Allison Anderson, was desperate to help, and so she asked Christy if she had any suspects in mind. Allison would later say:
“She said of Whippett, the effing so-and-so. He had rode past the unit a week or so ago and did a gun sign with his fingers to Rob, who was hanging up the washing.”
She told Christy she needed to tell this to the police, but Christy wouldn’t. Rob was Christy’s partner, and she said that he had been out searching for her since they discovered she was missing to try and generate leads and also find Kaisha if she had simply left the unit and wandered off. A major search was conducted by police and volunteers; they scoured bushland, parks, and reserves, hoping that it would lead them to the little girl. The fast-moving operation continued to gain momentum and Strike Force Jarrison was formed. The police discovered that Kaisha hadn’t been to school or been seen by anyone else since early July. The officer in charge, Detective Inspector Russell Oxford, said the last time she had been seen by immediate family was around the 7th of that month. She had been reported missing on the 1st of August. The three weeks in between were vital in putting together a timeline of events.
2 days after the call to emergency services was made, Christy and Robert made appeals for any news of her whereabouts and for anyone with information to come forward.
“Anyone… someone must know something. You, please come forward.”
“How have the past 48 hours been for you and the rest of you?”
“Can’t describe how it’s been. You don’t know. Put yourself in my shoes.”
“Just hope that she’s found as soon as possible, that’s what we mean. Safe and well.”
“How hard is it for you?”
“The longer this goes, it gets harder by the minute. She’s always happy, bubbly, you know, love playing, you know, just like any kid would.”
“But do you have any idea that anyone who you might know who may have taken Christy? Does the family… obviously thought about long and hard about this… does anyone have any idea?”
“I have no idea. If I had any idea, mate, we’d be there looking.”
“The police have expressed hope. Obviously, everyone is hopeful and that’s one thing you’ve got to, uh, hold on to. Definitely. You’re beautiful. Anyone want to see her, can I please call the police? We all love her, and we all miss her, and if she can hear or see it, get to a phone or ring the police.”
“We want her to come back safely. Do anything in your power to please come back home.”
Those in the community were desperate to find Kaisha and bring her home. Candle-lit vigils were held and flowers and toys were laid out for the missing child.
On the 30th of August, it was reported that Kaisha’s father, Chris, was being questioned by the police. He was adamant that although he had been paying child maintenance, he hadn’t seen Kaisha in years and had not had regular contact with her since he and Christy had separated. He was adamant he had nothing to do with her disappearance. Police said that they had received new information that he had allegedly been seen near the Woodstock Avenue block on the morning she went missing. Chris had been in hospital for the previous 3 weeks after complications from diabetes meant he had to have major foot surgery. His mother, Liz, said:
“I’m furious.”
She said that her son had not been kept up to date with the information about Kaisha’s case.
“It has been 28 days. We have no idea what is going on. The police tell us nothing, then they show up here saying this.”
But there was something that was standing out to the police. What had initially appeared as a desperate mother and stepfather awaiting any news soon began to raise eyebrows. The behavior of Christy and Robert stood out to many as unusual. Neither of them had made any effort to join in the searches, and despite the fact her daughter was missing, life for Christy seemed to resume as normal. She would go and get her hair and nails done and go shopping. Her appearances in the media only aroused more suspicion.
“It just makes you sick in the stomach.”
“Can we start again?”
The pair were adamant that they were innocent, and their friend and neighbor, Allison Anderson, became the spokeswoman for them and would defend them against the rumors that had begun to swell. Allison gave a statement…
“Guilty.”
She was emotionless. Then after the judge left the room, there was an eerie silence as everyone just stood watching as Christy Abrahams was led down to the cells. Christy Abrahams was sentenced to serve at least 16 years with a maximum of 22 1/2 years in prison for murder and interfering with a corpse. As her sentence was handed down by Justice Ian Harrison, she showed no reaction. Cries from the public gallery could be heard just as Harrison said:
“The trust placed between a parent and child is of the highest and utmost importance.”
Abrahams caused the death of Kaisha with the infliction of a violent lethal force on what was a vulnerable and defenseless child in her care who was entitled to expect and receive her attention.
Justice Harrison found that while she hadn’t intended to take Kaisha’s life, she had meant to cause grievous bodily harm. He also said that he could not be sure beyond a reasonable doubt who was responsible for the other injuries that Kaisha had sustained prior to her death. He rejected her account of what had happened but said that the evidence could not adequately explain exactly what had happened. He noted that Christy Abrahams had been abused as a child and said that what had happened to Kaisha was the inevitable product of entire intergenerational failures, adding:
“The death of the deceased is the foreseeable and predictable consequence of preventable cyclic abuse. The offender’s failures are mirrored in the failures of others.”
Justice Harrison did find beyond a reasonable doubt that she had recklessly failed to look after Kaisha after she had become injured, which amounted to reckless indifference to human life. Robert Smith was tried separately on the 3rd of May 2013; he was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years for manslaughter and being an accessory to murder.
Christy Abrahams will be eligible for parole in 2027. For her former friend, Allison Anderson, the sentence wasn’t good enough. She said:
“It’s just horrifying knowing she can be out when she’s 46. Does having a bad upbringing and abuse give you the right to go and take people’s lives? She knew what she was doing. It’s just a cop-out. Kaisha was killed by a cold-blooded murderer.”
The knock-on effect of Kaisha’s case was huge; so many people had been betrayed, lied to, and left broken. They hoped that they would be able to bring Kaisha home and put all of their efforts into making this happen. One person who was particularly affected was Allison Anderson. While she had had her own concerns from the beginning of the investigation, she had desperately wanted to believe that her friend had had nothing to do with whatever had happened to Kaisha. Now faced with the realization that she had been lied to the entire time, it was an incredibly painful and devastating thing to come to terms with. Allison had also been in foster care as a child and experienced abuse, meaning that this was incredibly personal to her. She would later go on to become a qualified youth worker and use her skills to help those who were vulnerable and in need so more children don’t fall through the cracks.
“I’m watching… huh… I’m watching.”
Childhood should be a time of innocence, wonder, and joy, but for little Kaisha Whippett, it was a time of torment, fear, and pain. She should have been able to grow up in a happy and safe environment, free from abuse and free to flourish and grow. Those who loved her are determined that she will never, ever be forgotten and that she will always be loved. Kaisha’s headstone reads:
“You are not just a memory or part of our past, you’re part of our family as long as it lasts.”
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
