Melissa Arbuckle vet husband jed anxious, heard voices and delusions
Melissa Arbuckle, a new mom, thought she was broken when she put her baby girl on the train tracks.
a young mother who killed her baby girl has been let out of court after the sad reason for the death was revealed.
Before an oncoming train came through suburban Melbourne, a first-time mom heard voices say she was "broken" and that her three-month-old daughter was too when she put her on the tracks.
On July 11, 2021, Melissa Arbuckle and her three-month-old daughter Lily were hit by a train near Upwey station in New York.
The 32-year-old woman who used to be a veterinarian lived, but her baby died that night at the Royal Children's Hospital.
A judge in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday sentenced her to a three-year good behavior bond for killing an infant. She pleaded guilty to the crime.
She became anxious, heard voices, and thought she was hallucinating before the tragedy, the court was told.
She thought she had hurt her baby when she rocked Lily's bassinet too hard and was worried that the girl was dehydrated.
"You thought you were a bad mother and that Lily would never love you," Justice Jane Dixon said.
A commanding voice told Arbuckle that she should die and that she wasn't good enough, so she took her own life.
When Lily was broken, you thought she could see you were broken, Dixon said.
But the day after the crash, Arbuckle was only diagnosed with post-partum psychosis and severe major post-partum depression. Maternal health records show that she had trouble coping and felt "out of control" in May.
She spent time with her family on the day she went to the train tracks. She went for a walk around 4.20pm.
Before they went for a walk, she texted her husband to say, "Muffin was having a bad day, so I'm going for a walk with her. I'll be back."
As soon as the first-time mom took her first steps, she looked up information about trains on the internet. She looked up information about speed, timetables, and train accidents.
She was holding her baby around 5:02pm when she waved at the train as it passed by with the baby's arm.
Her daughter was on the tracks and she tried to lay down, but a train hit them both.
In a heartbreaking detail, the driver, who was able to hit the emergency brakes, closed his eyes when he saw the crash coming.
Arbuckle tried to hurt himself when the emergency services arrived, so people rushed to help.
The woman's ex-husband, who asked not to be named, was in shock when he heard about the tragedy.
"It's hard to put into words how painful that was." He said, "My little girl is gone."
"She should have had so much more." As a result, I felt like I couldn't do anything.
The last time he saw Lily, he gave her a kiss on the forehead. He was heartbroken to see her in the hospital.
he told the court that the worst thing that could happen was already over for him. He had trouble with his feelings for his former partner, he said.
Arbuckle did not want to have any more children in the future because she was afraid she would go into psychosis again, the court was told. She also had a good chance of being able to get better, the judge said.
The term "infanticide" refers to women who kill their young children, if they are under two years old, in cases where the mother has mental health problems because of childbirth.
Arbuckle must keep getting help for her mental health as part of her good behavior order.