The two girls, who were inexperienced swimmers, were thrown into the river by their mother and hugged in the water for two hours before they were rescued by a passer-by.

A Sydney mother asked her two daughters whether they wanted to “go to heaven” before throwing them into a river in Sydney’s southwest, court documents have revealed.

The 39-year-old woman faced Parramatta District Court on Tuesday after being charged in 2023 with trying to drown the two girls in the river with the intent to murder them.

The mother and the girls cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Court documents obtained by news.com.au reveal that in the lead-up to the incident, the woman told her ex-husband that she was seeing “spirits” and “evil” in her house and purchased “Native American teepee tent, tarot cards, and spices” from the internet in an effort to “kick the evil out of the house.”

The agreed facts, which are not in contention, detailed how on September 11, 2023, the woman told her daughters that there would be “no school” and that she had a “surprise”.
She then led them up to the footpath atop the Light Horse Bridge on the Georges River in Liverpool – about 15 metres above ground.

The 39-year-old woman faced Parramatta District Court on Tuesday. Picture: AAP
The woman then told one of her girls to put her head through the metal bars of the railing, but she refused.

The woman then led the girls down the stairs to a nearby grass area about 1.8 metres above the water surface.

The mother asked one of the girls if she wanted to “go to heaven now”, to which she replied, “No, I have a bright future”.

She told her she could “do those things in heaven” before the girl responded, “No thanks, I want to be a police officer when I grow up”.

The mum then said, “Oh, okay,” before picking her up and throwing her into the river.

The other girl tried to run away before she also asked her if she wanted to “go to god”.

She responded, “Yeah, but when I die”, before the mother said, “Oh, come here”, and threw her into the river.

The woman is currently on strict conditional bail. Picture: AAP
The documents state that the girls were “inexperienced” swimmers and “immediately had trouble breathing in the water”.

“The accused watched [the girls] whilst they pleaded and begged to be

let out of the river,” the documents state.

“They screamed out, ‘We learned our lesson, please let us back up.’”

The girls managed to grab hands and hug before finding “something” under the water to stand on, using a stick near the edge of the water to help them stay afloat.

The two girls were thrown into the Georges River at the Light House Bridge. Picture: Google Maps
The documents state the girls were in the water hugging for two hours in total before a bystander heard their screams for help.

“She wanted a break from all the noise, she wanted peace and quiet, she just drove us here, and she drove home in the car,” one of the girls told the bystander.

“Mum said, ‘Do you want to go to God?’ I said, ‘I don’t want to, I still have a lot of

things to do here’ and she didn’t listen, she still threw me in the water.”

After throwing the girls into the water, the woman threw herself from the bridge onto a sloped embankment. She survived the seven-metre fall with major injuries.

The woman took the girls down after they refused to go between the bars. Picture: Google Maps
She told paramedics, “Let me die,” and “I want to sleep. I want to sleep forever.”

She later told police that she had been hearing voices saying “kill yourself” in both of her ears for “one year” and that she had been seeing “angels” and “demons” that would wear black clothes and “scream at her”.

Judge Huw Baker SC is set to make a mental health judgment on Wednesday before a determination is made as to whether she is fit to stand trial.