SYDNEY - Almost two years after a boy's decomposed body was found in a tartan suitcase dumped in a Sydney duck pond, his mother has admitted murdering him.
In October 2007, two local boys made the gruesome discovery after spotting the suitcase floating in the pond in Mandurama Reserve at Ambarvale, in Sydney's southwest.
Yesterday in the New South Wales Supreme Court, Rachel Pfitzner, 27, pleaded guilty to murdering 2-year-old Dean Shillingsworth on October 11, 2007, at Rosemeadow.
Dean had been living with his grandmother Ann Coffey in Brewarrina, in northwestern NSW, but she had left him with his mother for the school holidays when he was killed.
"He was a happy-go-lucky boy, he used to play on his own, he used to play out the back on his swing set and trampoline," the grieving grandmother said when Dean's body was found.
Speaking outside court yesterday, grandfather Edmund Caban said the family was very relieved at the guilty plea.
Pfitzner told police her son lost consciousness after she shook him and threw him to the ground, according to evidence at her committal hearing last October.
But forensic pathologist Dr Dianne Little told the magistrate the child might have been suffocated.
His body, which was wrapped in plastic bags in the suitcase, was so badly decomposed the cause of death could not be determined.
But Little said it was possible Dean was alive when he was dumped in the duck pond.
Soon after he was found, a memorial service was held at the pond where 2000 people expressed their sadness at his tragic death.
- AAP
Suitcase murder admitted
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.