The body of a missing five-year-old boy has been found in the Murray river at Moama, the New South Wales police have confirmed, according to the ABC.
Crews had been desperately scouring the River for a second day in the search for the boy, whose nine-year-old brother remained in hospital in a serious condition.
NSW police said the boy’s body was found in the water on Saturday morning, and while he was yet to be formally identified they believed it was the missing child.
The boys’ mother has been charged with attempted murder in relation to the nine-year-old’s injuries, but police said it’s expected she’ll face further charges.
The 27-year-old woman didn’t appear before Deniliquin local court as expected on Saturday morning after requesting to stay in the custody cells. She was refused bail and will reappear via audio-visual link on Monday.
The woman turned herself in to police in Echuca, on the NSW-Victoria border, on Thursday night after she was apparently attacked by a dog at the scene of the incident. She was extradited to NSW.
According to Fairfax media, police told a Victorian court on Friday the woman had allegedly attempted to drown her two boys, when she was attacked by a dog which happened to be in the area.
The woman’s older son, aged nine, was also mauled and was taken to hospital but authorities spent Friday searching the river for the younger boy but suspended the search overnight. He was located at about 11.30am on Saturday.
The nine-year-old son is in a serious but stable condition in the Royal Childrens’ hospital in Melbourne after also suffering serious dog bites on Thursday evening.
The father of the two boys, who reportedly had not been in contact with the mother for some time and had not met the youngest child, told Fairfax media he was “numb”.
