Mother charged with murder and attempted murder of children in Blue Mountains

A mother has been charged after allegedly fatally stabbing one child and seriously injuring two others in the Blue Mountains.

Emergency services responded to reports on Sunday that three children and a woman had been found in a vehicle in Valley Heights with stab wounds. New South Wales police said bystanders who were first on the scene attempted to perform first aid while contacting triple zero.

A five-year-old child died at the scene, and two other children, aged one and three, were taken to Westmead Children’s hospital. They are in a critical but stable condition.

The woman, 42, was transported to Westmead hospital.

The woman was charged on Tuesday with murder (DV) and two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to murder. She was refused bail and will remain in custody until her next court appearance next month.

Police said the woman had not previously come to the attention of police and that investigators were not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

The alleged domestic violence incident came at the end of a horror weekend across New South Wales, after three women were allegedly murdered inside their homes within a 12-hour period on Saturday.

The police deputy commissioner Peter McKenna described the weekend as devastating.

“It’s a horrific and tragic weekend and it’s like one that I don’t remember in my career,” he told Nine’s Today on Monday.

“Those three … plus the no-more-tragic situation that we had in the Blue Mountains. Put them all together and it’s unfathomable.”