A father charged with the brutal murder of his five-year-old son fronted court on Saturday appearing confused.
‘Where am I?’ the man, who is accused of stabbing his son at a Carlingford home in Sydney’s north-west on Friday morning, asked as he appeared in a court via video link.
The 36-year-old was refused bail and is expected to face Parramatta Bail Court on July 30.
A father has been charged with the brutal murder of his five-year-old son during an alleged domestic dispute at the Carlingford home in Sydney’s north-west
The boy tragically died in hospital after he was stabbed by his 36-year-old father, who was refused bail, at about 7am Friday
Natalie Lewin said she and her husband Hank (pictured together) were good friends with the boy’s parents and the alleged attack came as a complete shock
A witness also told Daily Mail Australia he saw the boy’s ‘heroic’ grandmother, in her 60s, run up the street with the injured schoolboy in her arms.
‘The woman ran all the way up the church with the boy in her arms. I’m trying to figure out how she got all the way up there. It’s a fair hike,’ he said.
‘It’s got to be 400 metres.’
The child was rushed to Westmead Children’s Hospital but could not be saved.
A neighbour revealed to Daily Mail Australia how she heard a loud ‘bang, bang’ as the five-year-old boy was allegedly brutally murdered.
Moments later the suburban street inundated with emergency response vehicles.
Natalie Lewin said she and her husband Hank were good friends with the boy’s parents and the alleged attack came as a complete shock.
‘I heard a bang, bang… I fell back to sleep then when I got up everyone was here,’ she said.
‘He played with my daughter and son, he was a very very nice boy.’
Mrs Lewin described the young victim as ‘the sweetest little thing’.
‘He’s the sweetest boy, very smart and outgoing,’ she said.
‘He’s five but he looks about three-and-a-half. He’s a very little boy. It’s just heartbreaking.’
Mrs Lewin’s husband said the attack was ‘absolutely shocking’.
‘We were friends when they moved here, they came to our house and we went to their house. I’m friends with his wife, she’s a Thai girl the same as me,’ Mrs Lewin said.
‘I’m still shaking because I don’t even know how to tell my kids.’
Ms Lewin (pictured) said her children played with the five-year-old boy who she described as being the ‘sweetest little thing’
The child was rushed to Westmead Children’s Hospital, in Sydney, where he died on Friday morning after the alleged attack
The boy’s 60-year-old grandmother fled the scene and took the boy to nearby Mosley Street where she called triple zero
The father was arrested nearby and taken to Castle Hill Police Station.
‘All we know for sure is that a young child has been murdered in his home brutally, and we have a gentleman in custody,’ Superintendent Rob Critchlow said.
Mr Critchlow described the actions of the boy’s grandmother as ‘heroic’.
A man and a woman, believed to be known to the residents of the home, arrived at the scene and spoke to police on Friday afternoon.
Looking visibly distressed and shaken they spoke to a detective before leaving the scene in a car.
The man told media he would be a spokesman for the family and would return later in the day to speak to waiting media.
‘I’ll be making a f***ing statement, you better believe it,’ he said before abruptly leaving.
New South Wales Police said the boy was ‘brutally murdered’ in the early hours of Friday morning
Forensic police work at the scene of a crime in Carlingford after the grandmother ran ‘400 metres’ with the boy in her arms
A neighbour reacts with complete shock as she speaks to media at the scene of the crime on Friday
Neighbours John and Cynthia, whose backyard is positioned directly in front of the murder scene, said they were at home and awake at the time of the alleged attack.
‘I’ve heard the boy outside playing – you will hear him coming in and out. But we didn’t even hear a noise this morning,’ Cynthia told Daily Mail Australia.
‘You would see the family sitting on the verandah doing their own thing and we would hear them talking. But nothing to think anything was wrong.’
Despite being at home during the alleged murder, John said he and Cynthia ‘heard nothing’.
‘It was a shock to hear the little boy had died this morning. It’s disappointing to hear it happened out the back of our house… so sad for the little boy,’ he said.
John said the family only lived at the home for two to three months before the Friday morning incident.
This is the scene where the five-year-old was allegedly murdered on Friday – furniture can be seen strewn on the footpath
One man at the scene of the crime said his entire family was in a state of shock after news of the alleged murder broke.
‘Nothing like this ever happens here. It’s a safe area,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Maybe kids riding motorbikes in parks, but nothing like this.’
Another neighbour in the leafy suburb of Carlingford agreed, saying ‘it’s such a nice area’.
‘You always see kids playing on the streets and people walking their dogs. It’s just a normal neighbourhood,’ he said.
‘We’ve never had anything close to this … I’ve been here for 15 years and we’ve never had anything like this.’
The director of a nearby childcare centre told the Sydney Morning Herald her staff saw paramedics take the boy to hospital
Investigators are seen wearing suits outside the scene of the alleged crime where the five-year-old was allegedly murdered
The child was left with serious stab wounds after the incident at a home in Carlingford in the city’s north-west at around 7am on Friday, police said
Mr Critchlow described the level of violence as ‘horrendous’.
‘The fact a young boy – five years of age – has died from being injured in his home, it’s probably about as bad as it gets,’ he said.
Mr Critchlow said investigations were still in the early stages.
A neighbour reacts to news of the five-year-old boy’s death outside the scene of the alleged crime on Friday
Superintendent Rob Critchlow said the boy was ‘gravely injured’ and was unable to recover
Mr Critchlow, who said the arrested man was a relative of the boy, described the actions of the grandmother as ‘heroic’
The child was rushed to Westmead Children’s Hospital but died shortly after arrival, police confirmed just after 9.30am
Detectives arrive at the Carlingford home to investigate on Friday, after the five-year-old boy died in hospital
‘She’s behaved in a heroic and caring manner, as you would imagine a grandmother would,’ he said, when asked about the boy’s grandmother.
‘She’s been presented with something terrible, and done her best to get the young boy to safety and to get him treatment.
‘Sadly, despite her best efforts, there was nothing more she could have done. We’re grateful to her for what she did do at the scene.’
Police were seen leading a woman covered in a white sheet to a waiting ambulance on Friday morning.
The boy’s mother was not at the house at the time of the attack, but was called to the Children’s Hospital, where she remains.
Forensic police work at the scene of the crime in Carlingford on Friday morning
New South Wales Police worked with forensic investigators at the scene of the crime
Police have confirmed the arrested man is a relative of the boy, but wouldn’t elaborate
‘The level of violence is horrendous… The fact that a young boy – five years of age – has died from being injured in his home, it’s probably about as bad as it gets,’ police said
One neighbour, who said he was woken by police helicopters, knew of the family, but said they had never interacted.
‘They seemed very tight-knit, very close. They kept to themselves. I never had anything to do with them,’ they told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.
Another neighbour said they heard possible screams coming from the home.
‘I was asleep and thought I might have heard screaming. I went back to sleep and then heard the helicopters,’ they said.
‘Then I heard the news. It’s just horrendous.’
Forensic police set up outside the home in Carlingford, Sydney, after the five-year-old boy died
The child was left with serious stab wounds after the incident at a home in Carlingford, police said
The director of a nearby childcare centre told the Sydney Morning Herald her staff saw paramedics take the boy to hospital.
‘We just saw the child and the carer in front of our centre. By the time we got there emergency services had arrived,’ Valli Adabjou said.
‘The carer was attempting to resuscitate the child. I don’t know where the incident happened.’
Ms Adabjou said the boy was not enrolled at her centre and she has emailed parents to tell them the children in her care are safe.
The director of a nearby childcare centre said her staff saw paramedics take the boy to hospital
The boy’s grandmother took the boy to nearby Mosley Street to call triple zero, police said
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