By Isabel Hayes
SYDNEY, June 17 AAP - It was the moment a mother admitted the unthinkable.
As Kristi Anne Abrahams stood up in court on the first day of her trial and pleaded guilty to murdering her six-year-old daughter, Kiesha Weippeart, it marked the culmination of "three years of agony" for the little girl's relatives.
Kiesha was a curly-haired "bubbly" child who loved Tinkerbell and Dora the Explorer.
When she vanished from her Mt Druitt home in Sydney's west in July 2010, her mother and her stepfather, Robert Smith, described her as "always happy".
But the reality was that Kiesha had been the victim of physical abuse from when she was as young as 15 months when Abrahams was convicted of biting her shoulder.
Her disappearance sparked a massive police search, with Abrahams and Smith fronting the media to plead for public help in finding their little girl.
Abrahams, wearing dark sunglasses and holding a tissue to her face, could do nothing but wail loudly and say, "She's beautiful".
"If anyone has seen her, can they please contact police," she choked out.
By then, Kiesha had been dead for three weeks.
She had been knocked unconscious by Abrahams on the evening of July 13, according to Smith, who later confessed everything to an undercover police officer.

SYDNEY, June 13 AAP - Police will resume their search for the body of NSW anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay at a property in the state's Riverina on Thursday morning.
Dozens of local detectives, the Homicide Squad and Australian Federal Police began excavating a property near Hay on Wednesday after receiving a tip-off that Mr Mackay's remains could be found there.
The rural property is about 150 kilometres from where Mr Mackay was last seen, in his home town of Griffith.
The father of four disappeared after leaving a pub where he had been drinking with friends on July 15, 1977.
His keys were found next to his blood-stained Mini van and three spent bullet cases were found near the Kooyoo Street hotel.
An extensive police investigation and a 1984 coronial inquest concluded the 43-year-old died of gunshot wounds but his body was never located.
Three men were convicted in Victoria of conspiring to murder him, including James Frederick Bazley, now aged 86, who denied any involvement and repeatedly refused to speak to NSW Police.
One of the men has since died and the location of the third man is unknown.
A royal commission also named six other men who may have ordered the killing.
It is believed Mr Mackay was allegedly targeted for identifying to police marijuana farms owned by Australian-born mafia who wanted him dead.
The comes after the state government and NSW police announced a $200,000 reward for further information last year.

BRISBANE, June 12 AAP - Queensland police will vote on a 2.2 per cent annual pay rise after their union and the state government reached an agreement.
It's less than the 3.8 per cent the Queensland Police Union (QPU) was originally seeking for the state's 11,000-plus officers.
However, police will retain six weeks of annual leave and other conditions under the new pay deal.
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Eight members of the NSW Police Force have been awarded the prestigious Australian Police Medal (APM) as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
The Governor General of Australia, Ms Quentin Bryce AV CVO, announced the recipients of the honours list on 10 June 2013.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione (APM) congratulated the recipients on their nominations and said each officer is deserving of such recognition.
“The Australian Police Medal recognises exemplary service within our police forces and the careers of today’s recipients truly embody the spirit of the award,” Commissioner Scipione said.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside many of these officers and I know they are each very deserving of their nomination.
“On behalf of the NSW Police Force, I want to thank the recipients for their ongoing commitment to serving the people of New South Wales.”

SYDNEY, June 4 AAP - A man has been charged over a violent weekend bashing that left a Sydney man in a coma.
Police say the 24-year-old is the key suspect in the attack against Simon Cramp, 26, in Sydney's CBD in the early hours of Sunday.
He will face Central Local Court on Wednesday to face charges of assault occasioning bodily harm and affray.
The attack occurred shortly after an unrelated brawl involving two groups of people outside an all-night fast food restaurant on the corner of George and Bridge streets, police said.
It left Mr Cramp in an induced coma which he only woke up from late on Monday.
The alleged offender was one of three men who turned themselves in to the Rocks police station on Tuesday morning.
The two other men, aged 20 and 21, whose images were captured on CCTV footage released by police, were questioned and later released without charge.
Acting Superintendent Tony Bell says police expect to lay more charges against those involved in the incident.
He also thanked the "numerous" members of the public who contacted police after CCTV footage was released.

by Mark Morri

A YOUNG woman watches helplessly as her boyfriend is beaten into a coma by drunken thugs in an unprovoked attack at the northern end of George St early yesterday.
Just moments earlier, outside McDonald's on the corner of Bridge St, the same group attacked and put another man in hospital.
At the same time, about 2km away at the other end of Sydney's premier street that cuts through the heart of the CBD, a young man is left bleeding in the road after a two-man brawl.
They were just a few of the violent incidents that erupted at the weekend on George St - dubbed Sydney's Angry Mile after the number of call-outs police receive on a Friday and Saturday night.
The calls kept on coming at as police raced from the scene of one fight to another.
Near Goulburn St, a man was left unconscious after being robbed of $40 and his credit card outside a kebab shop. At 4.55am police chased a man at Wynyard station after reports he had a gun. When they dragged him from the toilets he was found to have a replica pistol.
"All night our guys were running up and down George and Pitt St," NSW Police Association president Scott Weber said.
"It was like a running bloody battle all weekend. Some guys call it the Angry Mile and even at 5.30am we had four crews out breaking up fights."

SYDNEY, May 31 AAP - Danger lurks among the stilettos and designer labels at Sydney's fanciest nightclub, a NSW government report warns.
Ivy, the CBD nightclub which won the 2011 Australian Traveller Readers Choice best bar award, is also officially the state's most violent venue.
The George St venue, describing itself as "a sophisticated urban playground for grown-ups", tops the NSW government's violent venue list, recording 24 incidents in 2012, up from 15 in 2011.
Ivy is the only nightclub to have recorded more than 19 violent incidents over the past year, earning it a "level one" classification.
This means it will have to comply with strict conditions, NSW Hospitality Minister George Souris says.
They include a 2am lockout, extra security measures and after midnight a limit of four drinks per person, no glass, shots, doubles or alcopops over five per cent.

By Tara Ravens
SYDNEY, May 23 AAP - An additional 30 positions will be created in NSW's child abuse prevention squad almost a month after a report revealed children are falling through the cracks because of major staffing shortfalls.
A leaked human resources review found the police squad responsible for protecting children from abusers was operating at 50 per cent below what's needed.
It said 50 cases were ready to proceed in January but suspects weren't arrested because of a lack of resources.
Wollongong detectives were dealing with 45 cases of child abuse when the recommended amount was no more than 15, with overworked officers forced out due to stress.
The review also warned that workloads were set to explode in the wake of the national royal commission into institutional responses to child abuse.
It found 175 officers were needed, 50 of them critically.
On Thursday NSW Police Minister Michael Gallacher said another 30 positions would provide an "enormous boost" to the capabilities of the Child Abuse Squad.
"I am keen to see these 30 positions filled at the earliest opportunity with officers who have the skills, mental resilience and dedication to working with these victims of crime.