A woman charged with murdering her four-year-old son allegedly cooked parts of his arm before turning herself in to police.
The 32-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of killing the young boy in Wyong, on the NSW Central Coast.
She attended Wyong police station late on Saturday afternoon, with officers rushing to the home she shared with her son, finding his badly injured body inside.
Police on Sunday revealed they believed the boy had been “deceased for some time”.
The woman will be forced to submit to forensic testing after she allegedly made references to cannibalism.
She allegedly told police she had eaten parts of her son before the discovery of his remains, according to The Australian.
A magistrate issued an interim order allowing forensic officers to take mouth swabs, blood samples and nail clippings from the woman.
A vigil was held on Monday afternoon at the community pool, where locals came in small groups to pay their respects.
Parents and their children laid flowers, plush toys and candles, and the song “Forever Young” was played on a speaker.
Organiser Haylee Dickinson, 24, said she did not know the family but wanted a place where the community could “mourn and grieve together”.
“As a mother myself, I have a six-year-old son, so it hits very close to home,” Ms Dickinson said.
“I’ve spent my whole life in Wyong. This place was my childhood, and it’s where this beautiful little boy should have been able to grow up.
“The amount of people that have attended today … they brought their kids, they brought toys … it just shows what this community is all about.”
Ms Dickinson said the public pool was a deliberate choice for the vigil because it was a place where families “have always been together”.
“Wyong is known for lots of things, but when the community needs to come together it comes together,” she said.
The young stay-at-home mother, who was previously a social worker, criticised the government, saying more could have been done to save the young boy.
“I have seen some things in my time, but nothing like this,” she said.
The Department of Communities and Justice had had a number of interactions with the woman and her child.
NSW minister for families and communities Kate Washington confirmed on Monday that the last time the Department responded to a report involving the pair was 18 months ago.
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She said an independent review would be held into the boy’s death.
“The purpose of the review is to understand exactly what happened, what decisions were made, when and if they were adequate,” she said.
“What is the case with nearly all families that come into contact with the child protection system is that they are complex and there are interactions with various systems.
“There are a number of elements to this that we have been trying to get more information on.”
Earlier on Monday, tributes including a teddy bear, a stuffed Minion toy and flowers were placed outside the boy’s home, as locals spoke of their shock and grief.
Local resident Brenton Hulm, 25, said the incident had impacted their local community.
“It’s kind of broken the community a little bit. It’s put a bit of a dampener on everyone. You can see people are quite upset in the area,” Mr Hulm told NewsWire.
“People are very, very upset because it was a little boy. Having a daughter myself, I couldn’t imagine doing anything like that to my kids.
“It’s obviously a little bit scary.”Mr Hulm, a fast food manager who has lived on The Central Coast for 20 years, described Wyong as a “relatively” quiet place which, like any community, has “good parts and bad parts”.
“(Wyong) is an interesting place. You’ve got your good parts and your bad parts … there’s certainly some places you don’t go at certain times,” he said.
“These things could happen anywhere”.
Local resident Brenton Hulm said residents have been left shocked at news of the boy’s death. Picture: NewsWire / Jack Nivison
“My priority at the moment now is to work through the investigation with detectives to understand exactly what happened and why it happened, and importantly, as well, providing welfare to all the police that attended last night and through the investigation,” Supt Gillies said.
“Whenever a child is a victim of violent crime and whenever a child is murdered, it strikes at the core of community. That’s why it’s absolutely important we work through this methodically, we try to understand what’s happened, why it happened.
“From my perspective, we owe that to that little boy to make sure that we get the exact circumstances and present them to the court in due course, and that is the focus over the coming days and weeks for investigators.”
He added the woman was known to police.
“Now is a really tough time for family and the local community of Wyong, but that’s why it’s absolutely imperative that our police pull together and make sure that we do the absolute best job we can in really difficult circumstances.”
The woman was charged with murder (DV), and her case was heard briefly at the Bail Division Court on Sunday where no further details of the alleged crime were heard.
A local told 9News the boy had been “the happiest kid” he’d ever seen around that age.
The local said he had recently found a toy car left behind by the young boy, and he was planning on keeping it as a way to remember him.
“(He was an) angel of a kid,” he said.
A family friend said the boy was “very energetic”.
The woman did not apply for bail and it was refused, and she is due to next appear in court in September.
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