Mother accused of driving off boat ramp in failed attempt to murder her three children

A Melbourne mother has pleaded not guilty to trying to murder her three children – one of them an infant – by driving them off a boat ramp after failing to drown her son in the bath.

The woman, who cannot be identified due to a suppression order, had messages about adoption and postnatal depression on her phone when police searched the device, a court has heard.

She appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday and asked for a fast-tracked trial as she faces four charges of attempted murder over two alleged incidents in March.

The woman also applied for bail, which police opposed as they say her mental health could not be adequately supervised by her parents while she awaits her trial.

A summary of allegations aired in court revealed the woman, aged in her 30s, is accused of trying to kill her eldest child in the bath while her husband was out running errands on a Sunday this year.

The court heard that as the boy struggled with his mother, he asked her, “Why are you doing this?” Police say the woman didn’t respond and eventually gave up.

Police allege that soon after, the woman drove her three children – all aged under 12 – to a boat ramp, locked the car doors and accelerated at “full speed” into the water.

“As the vehicle was beginning to submerge in the [water], the accused opened her vehicle door, and water began to enter,” a detective senior constable told the court.

The woman then told her children to get out before grabbing her daughter and walking her to the front of the car, where the water was neck-deep, the court heard.

The mother allegedly then climbed onto the girl in a “piggyback”-like manner, causing the child to be “submerged completely”.

The girl was eventually able to stand up before her mother ordered her and her brother back into the car, police allege.

It is alleged witnesses heard the children screaming, and one witness waded into the water to get two of the children safely to shore.

Police claim the young girl then yelled “the baby!” and a witness asked the accused whether a child was still in the car. The mother allegedly nodded and retrieved the child from the front passenger seat.

All three children escaped injury.

When police arrived, the court heard, the mother was standing at the water’s edge with the infant in her arms. When asked how her car ended up in the water, she allegedly said: “It was just an accident. It’s just slippy.”

The accused mother later told investigators she didn’t feel mentally fit to be interviewed.

Detectives later found internet searches on the woman’s phone about hurting children, the court heard.

Text messages were also found that said: “I want to put the baby for adoption”, and “I know you think I have postnatal depression.”

Lachlan Abbott is a crime reporter at The Age. He was previously a city reporter and covered breaking news.Connect via email.