William Tyrrell’s former foster mother has admitted assaulting another child on two occasions but denies intimidating the victim.
The woman appeared with her partner at Parramatta local court on Monday for the start of a five-day hearing on the charges.
The two assaults the 58-year-old woman pleaded guilty to occurred on Sydney’s north shore in January and October 2021.
The two counts of intimidation, to which she has pleaded not guilty, involve a series of alleged incidents between January and August that same year.
Her 56-year-old partner, the former foster father of William Tyrrell, has pleaded not guilty to one count of assault and one count of intimidation over alleged conduct in November 2020 and October 2021.
The couple cannot be identified for legal reasons.
In August, police dropped one charge against both the man and the woman of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage or causing disadvantage by deception.
The couple said they would plead guilty to downgraded charges of procuring another person to make a bid on behalf of a seller at auction, resulting in a fine.
The pair paid a dummy bidder to bump up the auction price of their north shore home in December 2020.
Mystery surrounds the 2014 disappearance of William Tyrrell, who was three years old when he vanished from a property belonging to his foster grandmother at Kendall on the New South Wales mid-north coast.
Police have consistently sought answers in the years since his disappearance, including conducting a thorough search of the Kendall property in December 2020.
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In June, lawyers for the foster mother called on detectives to respond to reports that criminal proceedings were being considered against her over William’s disappearance.
Her lawyers said at the time: “To date, William’s body has never been found. The foster mother has always, and maintains, she has nothing to do with William’s disappearance. She desperately urges the police to resume the investigation into finding out what happened to William.”
No charges have been laid over William’s disappearance.
The ex-foster mother was acquitted in 2022 of lying to the NSW Crime Commission about hitting another child with a wooden spoon.
The hearing before Magistrate Susan McIntyre continues.