Dog saves boy, 9, after ‘mum tries to drown him in river’

A hero pitbull saved a child after his mum tried to drown him and a sibling in a river. 

The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is said to have told a friend, ‘I have to drown my babies’ before taking them to the Murray River, in New South Wales, Australia.

The 27-year-old then allegedly took her eldest son, 9, into the river and held his head under the water while her five-year-old son looked on and screamed, Bendigo Magistrates heard.

Her younger son, who has a different father to his brother, was then allegedly brought into the water.

He was last seen floating downriver and police launched an investigation to find him. His body has since been found.

A distressed emergency service worker told the Riverine Herald: ‘He was so little, it was awful, the whole thing has been awful, and everyone here is devastated,” he said.

‘All of us have been hit so hard.’

But his elder brother managed to survive after a dog intervened and attacked the woman, the Herald Sun reports.

The boy was also attacked but suffered only minor injuries and was reportedly recovering in hospital.

The court also heard the mother was on bail during the alleged incident and was only released from prison a month ago.

She handed herself in to a nearby police station and was immediately arrested on Thursday night. She has now been charged with attempted murder.

Outside court, the woman’s lawyer described his client as ‘confused and upset’.

He said: ‘She’s pretty upset and really, I think, I got the distinctive impression she doesn’t know what’s going on, not in a legal side of it, just what’s happened with her children.’

The court heard how she told friends on Wednesday that she ‘had to drown my babies’.

The boys’ grandparents reportedly warned authorities about the risk of the children’s mother after she was released from prison.

A statement from their lawyer read: ‘We had made considerable representations to Family and Children Services and the Department of Correctional Services about the imminent risk posed to the little boys with their mother’s release from prison.

‘Both departments failed to act and consequently we now have a grieving family.’