UPDATE: A woman charged with murdering a four-year-old boy and his grandmother sobbed loudly throughout her remand hearing on Friday in a Melbourne court.
Sixteen family and friends of the deceased attended Melbourne Magistrates Court to watch Cia Liao’s 17-minute appearance at a filing hearing.
Ms Liao, 45, is alleged to have attacked the boy, Alistair Mach, with garden shears and then lay in wait for his grandmother at a house in Albanvale.
An earlier hearing was told that Ms Liao waited 10 hours for Mai Mach, 60, to return from work and then attacked and killed her with the shears.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Tony Harwood told an out of sessions hearing on Wednesday night that Ms Liao had been in a relationship with Ms Mach’s husband Brian March, 61, for three years when his marriage broke down.
Mr Mach, who had recently ended his relationship with Ms Liao, was found bound and gagged in the house on Tuesday.
Detective Harwood said that when Ms Liao, a Chinese national in Australia on a tourist visa, arrived at the house at 6am on Tuesday, an argument began between her and Mr Mach.
Ms Liao was alleged to have bound and gagged him and then entered the bedroom where Alistair – who was being babysat by his grandparents – was in bed.
She allegedly attacked him, and an autopsy found he had received 18 wounds, some of which were defensive.
Ms Mach was found to have sustained 23 wounds.
Ms Liao, of Albion, is charged with two counts of murder and also intentionally causing injury, unlawful imprisonment and assault.
In a black jumper, she was led into court and sat next to a Cantonese interpreter with two custody centre guards as prosecutor Luke Excell told Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen she had been charged on April 1.
As Mr Excell announced further administrative dates, Ms Liao, who did not once lift her head, nodded to the interpreter and began to sob.
Her sobbing grew louder and continued as her senior solicitor Sarah Pratt said her client was on medication for blood pressure, it was her first time in custody and she had instructed she had suicidal ideation.
Mr Lauritsen remanded her until July 22.
Ms Liao nodded slightly and was led away.
The family of the deceased shielded themselves from media outside the Magistrates Court and were escorted by Homicide Squad detectives to a waiting car.
Neighbours of Alistair’s parents were shocked to hear of the tragedy, describing the family as friendly and cheerful.
The family home the four-year-old shared with his parents and small dog is in a quiet suburban street in Maidstone.
On Thursday, as Amy Mak and Andrew Kwong were in court to face the woman alleged to have killed their son, distressed friends gathered at the family home, arriving with shopping bags brimming with food.
Bruce Mieu, 56, lives across the road from the two-storey red brick duplex and said he often saw the couple with Alistair. He was shocked to learn of the loss.
He said they were “very good neighbours” and Alistair was a “nice little boy”.
“Every time we see each other, we say hello,” he said.
Neighbour Yen Nguyen spoke fondly of Alistair, describing him as a “very happy boy”.
Ms Nguyen, who has two young sons, said she was horrified to hear of Alistair’s death.
“It’s very shocking and sad,” she said. “I feel so sorry for them.”
– with Allison Worrall
