Cleo Smith, the four-year-old Australian girl who was released after 18 days of kidnapping suffers from nightmares

Cleo Smith, the four-year-old Australian girl who spent 18 days kidnapped until her rescue in early November, suffers from nightmares and sudden mood swings, recounted his parents in the first interview after the event.

“Every day and every night is different. She is fine. He’s happy and bubbly (and then) he gets sad or angry. But he’s getting over it.”, his mother, Ellie Smith, and his stepfather, Jake Gliddon, told the 60 Minutes program, broadcast Sunday night by the Australian network Nine.

Cleo was kidnapped in the early hours of October 16 while she was sleeping in a campsite with her family and the police managed to free her on November 3 after a huge operation.

The girl was found physically unharmed and locked in a room full of dolls in a house owned by Terence Kelly., 36 years old and tried for the kidnapping of the minor, three kilometers from Cleo’s family home.

The little girl, says her mother, remembers that she was “scared” while she was locked up and now behaves “differently”, without giving more details about her behavior.

The first day after being released “at seven in the morning she was jumping, dancing, singing. Was so happy. That was a beautiful moment, seeing her as she was before. We’ve seen her do it a million times before (the kidnapping) and now a million times after, and it’s still different, it always will be, that’s our life now,” the mother said.

Chloe’s mother and stepfather indicated in the interview that their plans include moving to another city and “building our daughters’ childhoods, with many fishing and camping activities (…) we are going to have an incredible life.”

The accused admitted the kidnapping of the minor during a court hearing at the end of January and is scheduled to appear in court on March 25 to know the date of his sentence for this crime, punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison.

(With information from EFE)

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