NSW Police have charged a 31-year-old man with the murder of his 12-year-old stepdaughter in the Hunter Valley.
Police said a family member called an ambulance after discovering the girl’s body in her bedroom in Aberglasslyn about 5:45am today.
The girl’s mother and several other children were home at the time, officers said.
Central Hunter commander Superintendent Craig Jackson said a man was stopped by police in Rutherford two hours later and taken to Maitland Police Station.
He has since been charged with murder and refused bail.
The man is in a de facto relationship with the girl’s mother, and was driving the family car when he was arrested, Superintendent Jackson said.
He said the girl’s body showed signs of violence, and no weapon was found at the scene.
“In so far as when the violence was inflicted, we’re still making inquiries in relation to that,” he said.
It is the third such domestic incident in NSW in three days.
A man was charged with murdering his heavily pregnant partner in Mount Druitt yesterday, and a woman and her blind baby girl died in a suspected murder suicide in Campsie on Monday.
Police investigating the death of the 12-year-old are speaking to alleged witnesses.
“No matter how you look at this, this is nothing short of a tragedy,” Superintendent Jackson said.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
© 2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
