Australia: Mob abuses suitcase-murder suspect

More than 100 people hurled abuse and tried to attack a car carrying a woman suspected of murdering a two-year-old boy whose body was found in a suitcase floating in a Sydney park pond.

Road blocks and tarpaulins around the area initially prevented the group of residents from approaching or watching as as police drove the 26-year-old woman, believed to be the boy’s mother, to the scene.

But the mob screamed obscenities at the woman and charged the car she was in as it left through one of the road blocks.

The woman later appeared at Parramatta Local Court charged with murder.

The woman, whose name was not released for legal reasons, was refused bail and was remanded in custody until December 12.

A group of children found the naked body on Wednesday, stuffed into a suitcase and floating in a duck pond.

The find – after the suitcase floated in the pond for at least two days - sparked national cries of outrage from politicians, police and the public.

A 29-year-old man was also arrested and questioned by police in connection with the murder, but was later released pending further inquiries.