“NEIGHBOURS REMEMBER A HAPPY LITTLE BOY… NOW POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING ONE OF THE MOST SH0CKING CHILD D3ATH CASES IN RECENT MEMORY.”
A mother charged over the death of her four-year-old son allegedly told police she had eaten parts of his body, as details of her troubled past emerge.
The 32-year-old woman, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, went to Wyong Police Station, on the NSW Central Coast, of her own accord on Saturday afternoon and allegedly said she had consumed parts of the little boy.
When officers arrived at the community housing complex on Byron Street that afternoon, they found her son’s body with significant injuries to his arm.
It’s understood he had been dead for several days before the alarm was raised.
The mother and her son are said to have moved to the unit about five months ago to escape domestic violence incidents.
She has now been charged with murder and remains in police custody.
Forensic investigators will take samples of her saliva, blood, nail clippings and debris under her fingernails.
Daily Mail can reveal the woman grew up in government housing in Armidale, in the NSW Northern Tablelands, with her mother and older brothers, before she moved to Gunnedah as a teenager.
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The boy’s mother (pictured), 32, allegedly told police she had consumed part of her son
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The boy (pictured) is alleged to have been dead for several days before the alarm was raised
The Daily Mail understands she was later thrown out of the family home over alleged drug use.
Court records show she had a number of domestic disputes with at least two members of her immediate family, dating back more than a decade.
Her own mother had an apprehended violence order against her, as did another male relative.
She was also caught up in civil disputes with a community housing group in Tamworth, and Transport for NSW after her drivers licence was disqualified last year.
According to court records, the mother-of-one has appeared in courts in Gunnedah, Mount Druitt and Penrith.
The crime scene at the Wyong unit block was still active on Monday, two days after her arrest.
Police cordoned off the apartment building and officers remained out the front.
Soft toys and cards for the little boy were left at the front door and at the top of the driveway.
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Police arrived at the home in Wyong (pictured) on Saturday night, and were still at the scene on Monday
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Residents left cards and soft toys for the little boy (pictured)
Some neighbours were too distressed to speak to media on Monday, while others said they were shocked by the allegations.
One man, who didn’t want to be identified, said he saw the little boy around the apartment block, but he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
‘I never heard them,’ he said. ‘I saw a kid sometimes but I didn’t hear anything.’
Another resident referred to the four-year-old’s death and added: ‘I hope he’s okay in heaven.’
Others pointed to the pre-school across the road from the crime scene and said they had no idea which kids lived on the street and which ones didn’t.
On Sunday, Superintendent Chad Gillies described the scene as ‘extremely confronting’.
‘It’s been confirmed the child had injuries. I am not going to speculate further on what those injuries are,’ he said at a press conference.
‘There is a domestic relationship to the child…the 32-year-old female and the four-year-old child lived at the unit together.’
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Police arrested a woman after her son’s body was found in their unit (pictured)
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NSW Police attend a Wyong property where they found the body of a four-year-old boy (pictured)
Neighbours told media the boy had seemed happy and energetic, and there didn’t appear to be any reason for alarm.
‘He was a little angel,’ neighbour Harry Chislett told reporters.
‘Sometimes he would be up running around until 9pm or 10pm, like he was running marathons at times.
‘He often had his red toy car and was always asking to play with Skyler, my puppy.’
Another neighbour who works as a mechanic said the boy asked him to fix his mother’s car because it was broken.
‘[The boy] goes, “Oh you’re working on mum’s car, has she broken it again?” He was happy. We couldn’t see any signs of anything,’ Glenn Winterbottom told media.
The NSW Department of Communities and Justice said it was reviewing their records after confirming it had ‘previous contact’ with the boy and his mother.
The woman’s matter was mentioned in an online bail court hearing on Sunday.
She did not appear in court and bail was formally refused.
Her matter is back in court on September 1.
SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15955229/cannibalism-wyong-mother-charged-murder-son-ate-body.html