AAP
The stepfather of Kiesha Weippeart kept her body in a suitcase at home for five days before setting her body alight and burying it in bushland, a Sydney court has been told.
Robert Smith, 33, had "ample opportunity" to seek medical help for six-year-old Kiesha, who was knocked unconscious by another person in July 2010, the Supreme Court heard on Friday.
Instead, Smith had gone to work the next morning leaving his stepdaughter "comatose" and finding her dead when he came home that night, crown prosecutor Keith Alder said.
Smith, 33, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the girl on the grounds of negligence and to being an accessory after the fact of murder.
Another person, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will face trial for Kiesha's murder later this year.
"(Smith) knew that the child had been knocked out," Mr Alder said.
"He knew he couldn't wake her. He had ample opportunity to get her medical assistance."
Kiesha was reported missing from her home at Mt Druitt, in western Sydney, on August 1, 2010.
Her remains were discovered in bushland at Mt Druitt eight months later in April 2011 - on what would have been her seventh birthday.
The crown alleges she died on the evening of July 13, 2010 and that on July 18, Smith and his co-accused took the suitcase containing the body to the burial site.
"The body remained in the house for five days," Mr Alder said.
"... He placed the suitcase in a bedroom for five days later."
At the burial site, he had "doused the deceased's body in petrol and then set the deceased's body alight".
The court heard Kiesha's exact cause of death has never been determined, but she had suffered from a "history of physical abuse".
"This is a case of grave negligence in relation to the manslaughter," Mr Alder said.
Defence barrister Mark Austin told the court Smith was a "passive" man who was physically and verbally abused by his co-accused, leading to feelings of "helplessness and high levels of anxiety".
Mr Austin described Smith as "fundamentally quiet by nature" and suffering from low self-esteem.
"His failure to obtain medical assistance (for Kiesha) can be explained by these aspects of the relationship (with the co-accused)," Mr Austin told the court.
Justice Megan Latham noted that Smith appeared to be the "prime mover" in the disposal of Kiesha's body.
"He was particularly involved and the prime mover, if you like, in the disposal of the body, including burning the body in such a way that prevents the crown from proving conclusively the cause of death," Justice Latham said.
She adjourned the matter for a mention on March 1.
Speaking outside court, Smith's father, Gordon Smith, said his son was "doing the best he can under the circumstances".
"He's holding up," Mr Smith told reporters.
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