Man who sexually assaulted 5-year-old girl and dumped body in creek for spilling his pot released after just 15 years in psych ward
A man who was found guilty of strangling a young girl to death and then molesting her has been quietly released from the psychiatric ward where he was admitted and given the protection of anonymity.
The murder and sexual assault of five-year-old Chloe Hoson in November 2003 by Tim Kosowicz was one that shook Australia and left many reeling because of its graphic and gruesome nature.
On that fateful day, Chloe's mother, Karina Beharrell, was cleaning her caravan in Lansvale, Sydney, when her daughter came running inside, according to news.com.au. She asked her daughter to go play outside, which is when the young girl went to the neighboring caravan, belonging to Kosowicz, to play with his cat.
When she accidentally knocked over his bowl of cannabis, he became enraged and started strangling her. But she didn't die, so he put two plastic bags over her head until she stopped moving, indecently assaulted her, bound her hands and feet, and put her in a plastic bag before dumping the body in a creek.
Speaking about the incident during his trial at the New South Wales Supreme Court, he said, "She spilled my pot on the ground and then I lost the plot. Then I blacked out and next thing I was strangling her in my bedroom."
It was revealed that Kosowicz was a schizophrenic who had just been released from a psychiatric hospital at the time and that he had not taken his medications, which regulated the condition, for three months.
The court also heard that he had threatened suicide and become "psychotic", and it was eventually ruled that he was so deranged he was not guilty of murder. He was committed to a hospital instead, a decision that unsurprisingly did not sit well with Chloe's family, who called for a change in policies.
"Well they [should] change the system for starters regardless of whether you’re sane, insane, whatever, you do the crime you do the time", said Chloe's father, Michael.
Kosowicz went on to spend the last 15 years at Morisset Hospital's forensic psychiatry ward and has now been released into the community, according to the Daily Mail. Before he was freed, he had also been allowed to leave the hospital for day trips to see his family.
While he will be allowed to live in an undisclosed private location, his movements will be heavily monitored and he will be subject to random checks relating to the Child Protection Register.