Cold case murder accused Ellen Craig (centre) was arrested in New Zealand and extradited to NSW.
AAP/August 6, 2023
By Kat Wong
A woman accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter while involved in a cult three decades ago has pleaded not guilty.
Ellen Rachel Craig, 60, allegedly killed Tillie Craig near Oberon in central NSW in July 1987.
Police allege the toddler was beaten to death with plastic tubing and her remains disposed of at a rural property in Porters Retreat, which also served as the headquarters of the cult The Ministry of God.
The 60-year-old appeared for arraignment in court via audio-visual link from Dillwynia Correctional Centre in western Sydney, where she pleaded not guilty.
Craig and her co-accused Alexander Wilon – the cult’s alleged leader – were initially set to face court in a joint trial.
But after Wilon’s recent stroke his lawyer Troy Anderson SC requested a delay.
“Mr Wilon recently suffered a stroke (and his) situation will not stabilise for three months,” he told NSW Supreme Court on Friday.
“After three months we will know if his position will improve, if ever.”
The case went cold for more than three decades until the Unsolved Homicide Unit received a tip-off in 2019.
By November 2021, police arrested and charged the alleged cult leader over his potential role in the murder, six months before before Craig was arrested in New Zealand and extradited to NSW.
Craig’s legal team will file an application for a judge-alone trial that will be assessed on 28 August.
Wilon’s matter will return to court in November.
