Warning: This post describes the murder of a baby and will distress some readers.
The mother of a six-week-old baby girl found dead yesterday with her throat slit has been charged with the baby’s murder.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the mother – a 26-year-old Sengalese women – was taken screaming from the rental property in the Newcastle suburb of Wallsend and remained in custody overnight.
Police say she will today appear before the Newcastle Local Court.
The infant was killed after the father left the family home with another child, aged seven, to attend a doctors appointment. Police are reportedly investigating whether post-natal depression may have played a role in the baby’s murder.
Police told the SMH: “”It is a very tragic set of circumstances here today and we our hearts go out to other members of the family and friends of the family.”
Neighbours have described the family as lovely and happy. “The boys would wave, it was never any worry. It just came as an absolute shock,” one neighbour told SBS.
If you or anyone you know is feeling depressed, you can contact:
SANE Helpline 1800 18 72 63
Lifeline 131 114
Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
Previously Mamamia reported…
A newborn baby girl has been found murdered in unbelievably horrific circumstances.
The six-week-old girl was found with her throat slit at a home in Newcastle, NSW this morning.
The Daily Telegraph reports a woman called 000 around 9am after finding the dead baby in a home in Curry Street in Wallsend.
Police and an ambulance rushed to the west Newcastle scene but but found the baby was deceased.
A crime scene has been established at the home, and the baby’s mother is currently being questioned by police at Waratah police station. The Daily Telegraph reports the woman is expected to undergo a psychiatric assessment.
It is believed the girl’s father was at the home where the alleged murder took place.
ABC News reports a report will be prepared for the coroner.
If you need help, call the Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia helpline on 1300 726 306, Mon to Fri, 10am – 5pm AEST.
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Top Comments
Dear Editor Mamamia,
Once again we find another child has been
died, allegedly, at the hands of their mother, this time in Newcastle
(25 July). Almost every week now we see a mother commit filicide (child
murder) and if we take into account the horror of the mother who killed
her EIGHT children, it is astonishing. It is child carnage!
More children die at the hands of their mothers than their fathers, but there seems to be silence about this on your website.
For
example, compare the outrage over Mark Latham’s comments about Rosie
Batty (160+ on the other page) to the lack of outrage over this latest case (9 on here) or female child murderers in general. Yes, that is exactly
what these women are – murderers.
Why not review and compare the
outrage by your female readers on your own website over Mark Latham’s
newspaper article. It was just an article, words – his views as a
commentator on society – but there are hundreds of negative comments
about Latham.
Enormous outrage over someone’s opinion! ... And yet there is no outrage by the same female readers when women kill children.
Who
has committed the greater crime – Mark Latham with a newspaper article
or the many mothers who have murdered their own children?
Worse,
there is often sympathy from your readers NOT for the dead children but
for the murdering mother. Read your reader’s posts and you will see all
sorts of excuses expressed for and on behalf of murdering mothers.
Do the same people offer excuses for and on behalf of murdering FATHERS? No, of course not!
Latham might be a moron in some people's views while other's say he is
on the money! But why aren't the Fems equally outraged at the murder of a
child? They are silent. Why?
The “easily-outraged” on your
website go into meltdown when a man commits family violence, or writes a
newspaper article, but when a woman slits the throat of her child or a
kills her 8 children there is deafening silence.
And if there is
some commentary it is almost always expressing concern and sympathy for
the mother! Would that happen for the father?
The
“easily-outraged” are actively creating two category of domestic
violence crimes – those that are committed by men and those they are
committed by women; and the latter is seen as a lesser crime.
I
call on the “easily-outraged” to spend less time criticising people like
Mark Latham for expressing an opinion and be just as vocal against
women who commit family violence as they are when men commit it.
By
staying silent on murdering mothers or worse, offering excuses for
them, the “easily-outraged” are offering a distraction to the wider
problems. Yes, women can suffer from mental illness and so can men. But
the “easily-outraged” will not accept that.
But please, please
PLEASE, treat women who commit domestic violence exactly the same way as
men – filicide is murder no matter what we you spin it, and more
children die at the hands of their mothers than fathers. If we refuse to
accept that some women can be just as bad as some men (sometimes
worse!) then we will not rectify this child carnage.
Don’t blame men for that!
this is breaking my heart im trying my hardest not to cry while im laying on the couch next to my 6 week old baby girl!! i dont know how a mother could do that do anything to there baby like that i kbow pnd but that is no execuse!!! R.i.p lil angel i wish that u got n had the love n the cherishing thst u dersve n grow up to a beauitful lil girl ill b thinking of u n u will never b forgotten....:'(