Mother lay down to die beside her dead children
February 21, 2008
A MOTHER made a bed for her two dead children before lying down to die beside them, her neighbours believe.
The 29-year-old woman was found bleeding and semiconscious, tucked into bed beside the bodies of her three-year-old daughter and five-year-old son on Tuesday.
She was in a stable condition, and under police guard, in Liverpool Hospital yesterday. The children's 31-year-old father made the horrific discovery when he returned to the family's home at Canley Heights about 6.30pm on Tuesday, police said.
Yesterday homicide detectives were waiting to speak to both parents.
A neighbour of the family, who wanted to be known only as Wendy, had followed the distraught father into the house after he had pleaded with her to call an ambulance.
She said she was overcome with a "sickening sadness" when she pulled back blankets on the bed where the woman lay to reveal the children's cold and blue bodies. Wendy said there were prescription pills and pill packets lying about the room.
"The mother had cut wounds to her arms," she said. "The two kids were blue, they were cold. The mother was blue as well, but not as bad as the two kids."
The children bore no obvious signs of injury, a police spokesman said.
A post-mortem examination will determine the cause of death.
Wendy, who is trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, said she had tried to revive the children. "I didn't bring them back but I brought the mother back," she said.
The mother had tried to speak but could only manage an indecipherable murmur, she said.
Detective Chief Inspector Gary Clark yesterday praised neighbours who had tried to help the family.
AAP