In the frantic moments after William Tyrrell vanished without a trace from his grandmother's verandah in September 2014, a Kendall resident saw him being driven down a nearby street "at speed" in the back of a four-wheel-drive, the Coroners Court has heard.
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Ronald Chapman was out the front of his Laurel Street home about 10.45am on Friday, September 14, 2014, when he saw a woman speeding past with an unrestrained boy dressed in a Spider-Man suit in the back of her car, he told the inquest into the little boy's disappearance on Wednesday.
The three- or four-year-old boy had his hands and face pressed up to the glass in the fawn-coloured vehicle's back seat, he said.
"I definitely saw William. I'm 100 per cent sure it was William in the back of the car. No doubt," the 80-year-old said.
Mr Chapman realised the significance of what he had seen when he saw a news story about William's disappearance that evening, he said.
"I recognised the boy's face and features," he said.
Asked by Counsel Assisting the Coroner Gerard Craddock, SC, if he thought he saw William Tyrrell, Mr Chapman said: "I did, yes."
The inquest had previously heard that William vanished about 10.15am, with a possible 10-minute window either side.
Mr Chapman said the woman, whom he described as fair, in her late 20s or 30s and "plumpish", was driving too fast.
"She was driving with speed; I couldn't estimate how fast, and almost lost control. She came around the corner at a wide angle."
Shortly after the four-wheel-drive sped past, another car going too quickly came around the corner from Batar Creek Road, he said.
"He cut the corner and was on the wrong side when he came around the corner, really, really accelerating."
The iridescent blue six-cylinder car was being driven by a man, he said, but Mr Chapman could not see any identifying characteristics because of the window tint.
"I often sit out on the front verandah during the summer months and I haven't seen either vehicle since," he said.
The retiree did not tell police about what he saw because he had heard on the news that officers would be doorknocking all residents within a one-kilometre range of the Benaroon Drive address from which William disappeared.
When that did not happen, he said, his sisters encouraged him to report what he had seen to police.
Mr Chapman's account is the only credible sighting of the little boy since he was seen playing on the verandah of his grandmother's home, almost five years ago.
Police investigated the sighting, the inquest heard last week, and have been unable to conclude whether or not the child was William.
Mr Chapman declined to comment outside the Coroners Court on Wednesday.
