Chloe Hoson was only five years old when her neighbour strangled her to death, wrapped plastic bags over her head and dumped her near a creek.
Now, her killer has been freed after spending no time in jail.
Tim Kosowicz, who murdered the young girl, has been released from a mental facility.
Chloe's family have been left furious that 15 years after her death they were not told their daughter's killer would be able to walk free on the streets without supervision, according to 7 News.
Kosowicz is schizophrenic, who had previously been released from a psychiatric hospital before the murder - he also used cannabis which triggered psychotic episodes.
He told police of the November 2003 day Chloe came with him to his caravan in Lansvale, in Sydney's south west, to play with his cat — but said he "lost the plot" when she dropped his pot on the ground, reports news.com.au.
"Then I blacked out and next thing I was strangling her in my bedroom." When she wouldn't die he tied 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.
He was found not guilty of murder due to mental illness — the effects of his schizophrenia meant he did not know what he was doing was wrong, the NSW Supreme Court found.
Released but without supervision, Kosowicz recently flew to Melbourne from Sydney for a week-long holiday with his parents in Victoria, Australia.
His mother is confident that everything is under control, with special phone numbers saved to her mobile if he became violent again, 7 News reports.
"If I can't get to the phone in time, I'll knock him out myself," Colleen Kosowicz admitted.
She told 7 News she believed the system was "safe" and the she will take responsibility for her son's supervision.
When Kosowicz's mother was asked what she would say to Chloe's mother given the chance, Colleen said: "Honestly, I don't know. I can say, I'm so sorry."
Kosowicz is now back in hospital, but is free to leave at anytime to go anywhere he pleases.
The decision of finding Kosowicz not guilty was slammed as unjust by Chloe's father Michael Hoson at the time, news.com.au reports.
"Well they (should) change the system for starters regardless of whether you're sane, insane, whatever, you do the crime you do the time," he said after Kosowicz was locked up in Long Bay prison hospital.
It is killers like Kosowicz who are among hundreds of deranged people whose details are being suppressed because they are in the care of the behind-closed-doors Mental Health Review Tribunal.
To add to the anonymity they already enjoy, an alarming option being considered by the NSW Law Commission is for police not to be told when forensic patients are released into the community.
The Daily Telegraph revealed the proposal would mean government agencies would share the information "by agreement" with the police, but only the Attorney-General and Health Minister automatically notified.
If adopted, the proposal would dramatically extend the privacy rights of offenders.
NSW Police Association's Scott Weber told news.com.au an important part of an offender's rehabilitation was making sure they abided by their parole or release conditions, which was a "normal thing for police" to do.
However, that was impossible when police didn't know who was being let out into the community. "It really is policing 101 for officers to know what offenders are being released."
Peter Rolfe, president of victims group Support After Murder, told news.com.au the thought violent criminals who have taken lives could be released quietly into the community was an insult to victims.
"It's offensive to them and of course many would find it scary to know they were out."
Rolfe said the proposal that police wouldn't be automatically notified was just another example of victims rights being ignored.
"Victims have no rights under the legal system."
He accused the Mental Health Review Tribunal of being a "law unto themselves".
A spokesman for NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman said the report would be taken to Cabinet after it was "carefully considered".
- additional reporting news.com.au
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