Evil stepdad who hid Kiesha Weippeart’s body in a suitcase and set fire to her corpse dies two years after he was released from prison

A man who bundled the body of his young stepdaughter into a suitcase and set her on fire before helping to bury her charred corpse in bushland has died.

Robert Smith, who served a minimum 12-year sentence for his involvement in the 2010 death of six-year-old Kiesha Weippeart before he was released on parole in April 2023.

Nine News reported on Thursday night that Smith died earlier this week.

His death isn’t being treated as suspicious. 

‘There was a confirmed death in Randwick on February 10,’ a NSW Police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

Little Kiesha died in her bed at her Hebersham home near Mount Druitt in Sydney’s west in July 2010 after being knocked unconscious by her mother Kristi Abrahams when she refused to put her pyjamas on.

Abrahams and Smith did not seek medical help after Kiesha was beaten and instead put her in the shower and then to bed, where she died. 

The little girl’s body was put into a suitcase and hidden in the house for several days before it was dumped in bushland in nearby Shalvey.

Robert Smith, the stepfather of Kiesha Weippeart had died.  He’s pictured with Kiesha’s mother, then-partner Kristi Anne Abrahams in 2010

Kiesha died at her Hebersham home near Mount Druitt in Sydney’s west in July 2010

In 2013, Smith was convicted of manslaughter and being an accessory to the murder alongside Abrahams, who was convicted of murder and jailed for at least 16 years and maximum of 22. 

Kiesha’s body was doused in petrol and set alight by Smith before it was buried in a shallow grave dug with a hammer.

She was reported missing by Abrahams and Smith in August 2010.

Abrahams said she had put Kiesha to bed but had disappeared by the following morning.

Neighbours and friends searched the streets near Mount Druitt as Abrahams shed tears for media cameras alongside Smith, saying they had no idea who could have taken Kiesha while imploring ‘please contact the police, she’s beautiful’.

Abrahams and Smith gained an outpouring of support from Australians after appearing on TV several times to make emotional pleas.

Eight months after Kiesha was reported missing, police arrested Abrahams and Smith on April 11, 2011 when they went to where she was buried in bushland in nearby Shalvey on what would have been Kiesha’s seventh birthday.

A post-mortem found 10 separate injuries to her head, jaw, and body, including teeth fractures.

Kiesha would have been celebrating her 21st birthday in April if she was still alive today. 

Her dad Chris Weippeart died in November 2012, 19 months after Kiesha’s body was found.

Kiesha’s body was found in nearby bushland eight months after she died

Smith, then 43, walked out of Junee Correction Centre in central-west NSW in April 2023 after serving his minimum 12-year sentence for manslaughter and being an accessory to the murder.

At his parole hearing, the court heard the victim’s family had not objected to Smith’s release but asked for him to be prohibited from entering Blacktown or Penrith in western Sydney.

Smith had been assessed as being a medium risk of re-offending and a plan was made to mitigate the risk of his transition into the community. 

The court heard Smith was a model inmate in prison who participated in multiple programs and employment, with Judge Bellew granting him parole.

A document from the SPA stated that throughout his time behind bars Smith ‘behaved in a generally positive manner, to the point where having entered custody with a maximum-security classification, he progressed to a minimum classification in April 2022’.

Robert Smith (pictured arriving in court) was released on parole in April 2023

The chairperson of the Serious Offenders Review Council, which provides advice on which offenders should be considered for parole, recommended Smith’s release, a recommendation the SPA adopted.

The council stated he had completed several appropriate therapeutic programs and had no serious mental health issues of concern.

It also said he only had two institutional infringements in 12 years in custody and the most recent was almost five years ago.

A parole determination stated Smith originally lacked insight into the impact of his crime but had ‘responded positively to interventions’ and had since expressed remorse and accepted the gravity of his offending.

Judge Bellew said Smith had been assessed as being a medium risk of re-offending and therefore a plan was made to mitigate the risk of his transition into the community.

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