A woman who allegedly drowned her young son in the Murray River in a remote part of NSW has been charged with his murder.
The 27-year-old mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was already accused of the attempted murder of her nine-year-old son near Moama. She now also stands charged with alleged murder of her five-year-old child. On Monday, NSW Police confirmed she had now been charged with murder.
"A woman has today been charged with murder during a court appearance at Deniliquin. The charge relates to the death of a five-year-old boy whose body was located in the Murray River at Moama on Saturday 4 March 2017," police said in a statement.
"The woman was last week charged with attempt to drown person with intent to murder in relation to a nine-year-old boy. He remains in a stable condition at hospital in Melbourne."
The woman did not appear via video link at the brief hearing and will front court again on May 2.
Woman charged with murder & attempted Murder of 2 boys at Moama. Did not appear on video link at Deniliquin courthouse @9NewsAUS
— Jayde Vincent (@JaydeVincent) March 6, 2017
Police divers located the five-year-old boy's body in a section of the river near the NSW border town of Moama about 11.35am on Saturday.
The tragic discovery came after the five-year-old boy went missing in the river on Thursday.
Police told a previous Deniliquin Local Court hearing that the woman tried to drown the nine-year-old in the Murray River but he managed to get away, NewsCorp Australia reported at the time.
The boys' grandparents are said to be be shocked and heartbroken over the incident, while authorities are looking into the family circumstances that led up to the tragedy.
NSW Premier has described the incident as "a human tragedy of the highest order".
"We've asked for all our agencies to give us urgent reports on what they knew," Berejiklian said.