The man arrested over the kidnapping of four-year-old girl Cleo Smith has been taken to hospital for the second time after allegedly being attacked by a fellow prisoner.
Cleo vanished while on a family camping trip in the outback. She was found in the early hours of Wednesday after police officers broke into a house in Carnarvon, a town about 100km south of the campsite she vanished from, and found her in one of the rooms.
Terry Kelly, 36, has been taken into custody by police and is being questioned but no charges have been laid yet.
The 36-year-old man had only been in Carnarvon police station for a few hours on Wednesday when he was allegedly attacked by a fellow prisoner and taken to hospital, according to the Daily Mail.
The prisoner's mother told Daily Mail Australia her son became "furious" when he discovered why Kelly had been arrested.
"As soon as he heard this bloke was arrested over that little Cleo, he blew up, beat him black and blue," the woman says.
"I tell you what, he got a real hiding... my son had to be taken out in shackles, and [Kelly] was taken for treatment... he was in a bad way.
"He is a big bloke but he really copped it."
This isn't the first time Kelly has been taken to hospital in the short space of time he's been in custody.
Following the assault by the prisoner, Kelly was again taken to hospital after he was injured after banging his head against a wall in a holding cell but WA Deputy Police Commissioner Col Blanch said "there’s no serious injuries."
"We've had to take him off to hospital again this morning, so that's twice,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.
Blanch said it was important that before an interview takes place police are sure a person is of sound mind, healthy, fed, and has had sufficient rest.
"So we've got to make all the right accommodations for this person ... so we can make the right decisions going forward today."
On Wednesday, Western Australia Police released heartwarming footage of the moment Cleo was rescued by Police.
In the 11-second video posted to Twitter, Cleo can be seen with a police officer carrying her outside, while Detective Senior Sergeant Cameron Blaine talks to her.
"Cleo, my name's Cameron, are you OK?" Detective Blaine gently asks the four-year-old. Cleo has her arms firmly around the officer and she nods her head.
"We're going to take you to see your mummy and daddy, is that good?" he asks again.
Smiling as she plays with the hood on the officer's jacket, Cleo nods again.
Following the rescue, Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said officers had no idea what to expect when they broke into the house.
"They really did not know what they were going to encounter," Dawson told News.com.au.
"It was the hard work of the team that did it. Analysing all that information, gathering it and finding the needle in the haystack."
He told News.com.au officers broke into the house in a "matter of hours" after they received the tip-off.
