Tillie Craig murder: Ellen Rachel Craig accused of beating toddler daughter to death in Oberon NSW 36 years ago while involved in a cult pleads not guilty

  • Ellen Rachel Craig pleads not killing to killing toddler
  • Legal team will file an application for a judge-alone trial
  • Tillie, 2, allegedly beaten to death with plastic tubing

By Kat Wong For Australian Associated Press

Published: 13:52 BST, 4 August 2023 | Updated: 13:58 BST, 4 August 2023

A woman accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter while involved in a cult three decades ago has pleaded not guilty.

Ellen Rachel Craig, 60, allegedly killed Tillie Craig near Oberon in central NSW in July 1987.

Police allege the toddler was beaten to death with plastic tubing and her remains disposed of at a rural property in Porters Retreat, which also served as the headquarters of the cult The Ministry of God.

The 60-year-old appeared for arraignment in court via audio-visual link from Dillwynia Correctional Centre in western Sydney, where she pleaded not guilty.

Craig and her co-accused Alexander Wilon – the cult’s alleged leader – were initially set to face court in a joint trial.

Two-year-old Tillie Craig (pictured) was allegedly beaten to death with plastic tubing in 1987

Two-year-old Tillie Craig (pictured) was allegedly beaten to death with plastic tubing in 1987

But after Wilon’s recent stroke his lawyer Troy Anderson SC requested a delay.

‘Mr Wilon recently suffered a stroke (and his) situation will not stabilise for three months,’ he told NSW Supreme Court on Friday.

‘After three months we will know if his position will improve, if ever.’

The case went cold for more than three decades until the Unsolved Homicide Unit received a tip-off in 2019.

By November 2021, police arrested and charged the alleged cult leader over his potential role in the murder, six months before Craig was arrested in New Zealand and extradited to NSW.

Ellen Rachel Craig, 60, was arrested in New Zealand and extradited to NSW in May 2022. She pleaded not guilty to her daughter's murder

Ellen Rachel Craig, 60, was arrested in New Zealand and extradited to NSW in May 2022. She pleaded not guilty to her daughter's murder

Ellen Rachel Craig, 60, was arrested in New Zealand and extradited to NSW in May 2022. She pleaded not guilty to her daughter’s murder

Craig’s legal team will file an application for a judge-alone trial that will be assessed on August 28.

Wilon’s matter will return to court in November.

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