Australian paedophile charged with murder
A convicted paedophile was charged today with the murder of a nine-year-old girl, 14 years after she disappeared from her home in a case that baffled police and stunned Australia.
Michael Guider, 50, appeared in court in Sydney charged with the murder of Samantha Knight, but was not required to enter a plea, officials said.
Guider is currently serving prison time on 60 counts involving sexual assault.
His arrest appears to have broken one of the most baffling cases ever to have confronted New South Wales police. The girl’s body has never been found.
"This morning’s events are the culmination of a protracted and meticulous investigation which commenced in 1986 and was reactivated again in 1998," said police official Graeme Morgan.
Knight was last seen near her home in the Sydney suburb of Bondi on August 19, 1986.
Her disappearance led to one of the biggest police manhunts in Australia and gained intense media interest.
Knight’s mother, Tess Knight, plastered her daughter’s image on thousands of phone booths throughout the city, stirring an immense public outpouring of sympathy and outrage.
In a 1996 interview, 10 years after the disappearance of her daughter, Knight spoke of her feelings.
"What I want is not revenge," she said. "My first wish is just to know what happened to her where she is, or where her remains are."
According to a statement of police facts tendered to the Sydney Central Local Court on Thursday, Guider was a friend of the mother of one of Samantha Knight’s school friends.
He occasionally baby-sat Knight before her disappearance.
Police also allege Guider admits that he took pornographic pictures and administered stupefying drugs to various children, including two of Knight’s friends.
Central to the claims against Guider is the police allegation that he told witnesses he gave Knight too much of a prescription drug and that her death was accidental.
