SYDNEY (AFP) - - An Australian man was charged with murder after
allegedly throwing his four-year-old daughter from a city bridge
into a river during peak hour traffic on Thursday, police said.
The 36-year-old man, believed to be involved in a custody battle
with the girl's mother, allegedly threw her from a 60-metre
(200-feet) high section of the West Gate Bridge into the Yarra
River in the southern city of Melbourne.
The incident took place in front of hundreds of motorists while
two other children, boys believed to be aged six and eight,
remained in the four-wheel drive, police said.
"No one had the opportunity to intervene ... it all happened
fairly quickly," Detective Inspector Steve Clark told
reporters.
"He's got straight out of the car and taken the young girl and
walked to the edge of the bridge, so that would have happened in a
matter of seconds."
Horrified witnesses called police, who were on the scene within
moments and retrieved her body from the water. They spent 45
minutes attempting to resuscitate the girl on the riverbank.
She died from severe internal inuries within hours of being
airlifted to hospital.
The man was arrested outside the city's law courts building with
the two young boys shortly after the incident, and was "visibly
distressed", Clark said.
He was not mentally fit to be interviewed, and his lawyers said
he could not appear in court because he was suicidal and in an
"acute psychiatric state". His case will be heard in May.
"It's a dreadful set of circumstances, and often you think
you've seen it all but you haven't," Clark said, adding that the
man was believed to be embroiled in a custody battle with his
wife.
"There have been some ongoing family court matters as I
understand it between the father and his wife," he said.
The couple reportedly reached an agreement in court on Wednesday
appointing joint custody. The boys were interviewed by police and
have been returned to their mother.