'Oh no, she's gone': Child beaten to death over household chores at cult

A two-year-old girl was doing her chores, sweeping the pathway between cottages at a religious retreat moments before she was beaten to death.

Ellen Rachel Craig, 62, pleaded guilty in the NSW Supreme Court on June 14, 2024, to a reduced charge of manslaughter.

Craig - who was initially charged with murder and pleaded not guilty - had a trial scheduled for late July but will now be sentenced on August 12 as a result of her plea.

Craig first met cult leader Alexander Wilon - then known as Alfio Nicolosi - in 1986 before joining his Ministry of God cult, known as 'The Family', at a property 40 minutes from Oberon in the NSW central tablelands.

Life at the Porter's Retreat property was dictated by 'Master Wilon', who is alleged to have isolated his members from society, controlled the group's money and what times they could eat.

During the four compulsory meditation sessions in 'Papa's room' each day, Wilon would relay what his guide 'Monet' would say to him, use crystals and read his followers' minds and tell them what to do.

Wilon's strict routine for any members who failed to comply with his rules, directions or desires allegedly included discipline by beatings with pieces of plastic irrigation pipe.

Members were also required to discipline children.

Wilon has been charged in relation to the child's death, with the Crown to file an ex-officio indictment in the District Court after he was struck out of the Supreme Court.

Court documents state that on July 7, 1987, a two-year-old girl was sweeping the pathway between cottages at the retreat when Craig began to yell and hit her with black tubing because she was unhappy with her work.

Craig was then seen by Wilon's second-in-charge hitting the child on her back and legs as she laid face down on the ground.

Moments later Craig went inside one of the cottages and said to the woman "she's stopped breathing", court papers state.

As the two women picked the child up, a noise came from the toddler's lungs.

"Oh no, no, she's gone," Craig said.

After trying to resuscitate her, the two women took the toddler into a bathroom and undressed her while looking for visible bleeding as she laid in an empty bathtub.

Then, she and the other woman went into 'Papa's room' for 30 minutes to two hours to pray, instead of calling emergency services for help.

Court papers state the beating was excessive discipline and "there was no intention on the part of the offender to cause grievous bodily harm or death".

After returning to Porter's Retreat from Bathurst and learning of the child's death, Wilon allegedly tried to resurrect her by prayer before it was suggested they bury her in a nearby forest.

According to the Court documents, Craig, Wilon and a witness are alleged to have then driven to a clearing in the forest with shovels, picks and mattocks.

It was then decided the child - who had been wrapped in a white sheet - should be cremated.

It is alleged Wilon took the child's body to a garage and placed her inside a 44-gallon drum and lit her body on fire, along with pieces of wood, old clothes and motor oil.

Court papers state Wilon, allegedly, tended to the fire, watching it burn for hours until there was nothing left.

The following day, Wilon allegedly sieved through the child's ashes to make sure there were no unburnt remains before he directed his second-in-charge to help him dump the drum into a river on the property.

It has never been found.

Wilon allegedly told his followers they were prohibited from speaking of the child's death and if they were asked, they were to say she had been given up for adoption.

It was almost a month later on August 1, 1987 when the child's father went to the property.

Craig hid under the bed as the man was allegedly told "[the child] isn't here and don't come back" by Wilon.

Once Craig was expelled from The Family by Wilon, on November 3, 1987, she flew back to New Zealand and changed her name to Jowelle Tenzing Smith.

During a conversation with a friend of the child's father on February 16, 1990, Craig said the child had been given to a South African couple.

Nineteen years later on October 12, 2019, police received a report from Wilon's second-in-charge, who told them about the toddler's death.

Craig - who had since changed her name back - was arrested in New Zealand on November 16, 2021.

"I was completely out of myself, my character," she said in an official interview.

"I want to say all of these things ... I can't ... I don't know what happened, I can't tell you."

She was extradited back to Australia on May 12, 2022, and has remained behind bars since.

Craig will appear by audio-visual link to a court from prison to be sentenced on August 12.