A Melbourne mother has pleaded not guilty to allegations that she attempted to kill her three children by driving their family car into a creek.
The woman, who is in her 30s and cannot be named, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday facing charges including attempted murder and reckless conduct endangering life. She has been committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court.
Police allege the incident happened earlier this year, three weeks after the birth of the woman’s third child. Detective Senior Constable Amy Tuck told the court the woman had sent her husband to IKEA to look for a dining table, saying she “wanted to look after all the kids that afternoon”.
After he left, the woman allegedly took her three children, all aged under 12, out in the car, telling them they were going for a drive to settle the baby.
The family returned home shortly before midday, the court heard. The woman allegedly called her eldest child upstairs for a bath and then tried to push him under the water, but he resisted using his legs.
She allegedly then put the children back in the car and stopped responding to calls and messages from her husband, who was sending her photographs of dining tables.
Children rescued from Melbourne creek
Shortly before 12.30pm, police allege the woman drove at “full speed” from a boat ramp into a Melbourne creek.
Constable Tuck said the woman allegedly opened the driver’s door as the car began to submerge and told her two eldest children to get out. She is accused of pushing the middle child into the water before instructing the children to get back inside as she tried to reverse the vehicle out of the creek.
Witnesses called triple-0 after seeing the car and hearing children screaming. They entered the water and carried all three children to the shore before police arrived.
The woman allegedly told officers she was “just like taking them for a drive” and that “it was just an accident, it’s just slippy”. She later allegedly said she did not feel “mentally fit” to take part in a formal interview.
The middle child allegedly told police they had been underwater for about five seconds and believed their mother was trying to drown them.
“I asked if she was trying to hurt me and she said no I was trying to save you,” the child allegedly said.
The eldest child allegedly told police they had become “suspicious” during the second drive, after the alleged incident in the bath.
“She went full speed into the water… I didn’t know what was happening,” the child allegedly said.
Police allege searches found on the woman’s phone included “how to kill a child quickly”, “best methods to kill a child”, “why do I feel suffocated at home”, “I get no good feels from motherhood” and “murder sentence Victoria”.
The court heard she had previously been diagnosed with severe obsessive compulsive disorder and had been observed days before the alleged incident displaying “severe anxiety and struggling to form language”.
In messages sent to her mother months earlier, she allegedly wrote that she “can’t do this anymore”, needed to “get out” and wanted to put the baby up for adoption.
The woman spent time in a prison hospital after her arrest and was recently assessed by forensic psychiatrist Adam Deacon. Dr Deacon expressed the view that her “mental health symptoms, if not completely resolved, have reduced” while she was in custody.
She is expected to apply for bail later this week, with a proposed arrangement to live with her parents and receive psychological help.
Police are expected to oppose bail, arguing that she poses an unacceptable risk of interfering with witnesses and endangering public safety.
