A mother accused of stabbing her three young children was found in nearby bushes screaming and violently thrashing around, while the youngsters sat eerily silent inside a car, a witness has revealed.
The confronting new details have emerged after a five-year-old boy was killed and his two younger siblings were critically injured on a quiet street in the Blue Mountains on Sunday afternoon.
Police allege the 42-year-old mother stabbed all three children, who were aged five and under, before turning the weapon on herself.
The family was discovered after two cyclists and a passing motorist stopped on Waratah Road in Valley Heights and desperately tried to help.
Local resident Julie Sukkar initially believed the commotion just metres from her front door was the aftermath of a traffic accident.
But when she went outside, she saw a white four-wheel drive parked on a vacant block with its doors open and the three children inside, while their mother lay nearby in bushes.
‘One of the children, a little girl, a baby, had a beautiful pink and white flower dress on,’ Ms Sukkar told Daily Mail Australia. ‘I noticed that as they pulled her out of her car seat.’
Local resident, Julie Sukkar, initially believed the commotion just metres from her front door was the aftermath of a traffic accident
A mother accused of stabbing her three young children was found screaming and thrashing in bushes while the youngsters sat eerily silent inside a nearby car
‘I only thought there were two children at first, but there were three of them in there.
‘The woman on the ground was yelling, screaming and thrashing about. I’m not sure what she was saying, or if she was trying to say anything.
‘She was covered in blood and had some really bad injuries.’
But amid the frantic activity around the car, it was the silence of the three young children that Ms Sukkar found particularly difficult to witness.
‘The children were quiet. They were not screaming or crying. They were not moving.
‘That was hard to see. The police and the ambulance were here fast, and they did such a good job.’
Ms Sukkar said police initially handcuffed the mother before later removing the restraints as she was stretchered into an ambulance.
‘They took them off pretty quickly, once they realised she was no danger to anybody,’ she said.
Mrs Sukkar said police initially handcuffed the mother before later removing the restraints as she was stretchered into an ambulance
Police say the family have no links to the Blue Mountains and were not previously known to officers.
They have also confirmed the children’s father was at work when the incident unfolded.
As the investigation continued on Monday, several detectives went door to door through the small Blue Mountains community as they worked to piece together the woman’s movements in the hours before the tragedy.
Police have confirmed they are treating the death of the five-year-old boy as a domestic violence incident and that his mother is the only suspect.
Police will allege the wounds sustained by the mother were self-inflicted.
The woman remains in a critical condition and detectives have not yet been able to interview her.
Ms Sukkar also praised the quick actions of the three strangers who stopped and raised the alarm, saying their decision to help may have saved the lives of the two surviving children.
‘There was two cyclists and one woman who I think was driving past and stopped,’ she said.
As the investigation continued on Monday, several detectives went door to door through the small Blue Mountains community as they worked to piece together the woman’s movements in the hours before the tragedy
The police confirmed the mother had no links to the Blue Mountains
‘She was very distraught and got in the back to help the baby.
‘I think those kids probably wouldn’t have survived if they hadn’t stopped.’
Despite witnessing the bloody aftermath and later learning that police suspect the mother was responsible, Ms Sukkar said she could not bring herself to condemn her.
‘I felt really sad for her and for the kids as well,’ she said. ‘To be in that state of mind, I couldn’t even imagine it.
‘I have read Facebook people calling her a monster. I think people can point the finger a little too early before they know what’s happened.
‘If you haven’t been through mental illness, you wouldn’t understand it.’
