William Tyrrell’s foster mother has been charged with a new offence of common assault but it is not linked to the missing toddler.
Lawyer Sharon Ramsden told Hornsby Local Court in NSW on Tuesday that the 56-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would plead not guilty to the fresh charge.
The foster parents previously pleaded not guilty to assaulting a child who is not William.
It was revealed last year that the foster mother and now-deceased foster grandmother were being treated as persons of interest in William’s disappearance.
They both denied any wrongdoing and no charges have ever been laid.
The three-year-old boy vanished in September 2014 from a home that belonged to his foster grandmother.
He was last seen wearing his beloved Spider-Man outfit.
Police conducted a renewed and extensive search for the boy in areas surrounding Kendall late last year.
Officers scoured bushland, waterways and tanks at the foster grandmother’s house.
William has never been found despite years of detective work, the identification of hundreds of people of interest and a $1m reward for information.
The foster mother and 54-year-old foster father will both return to court in April.
