{"id":593238,"date":"2026-04-08T10:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593238\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T10:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:53:09","slug":"judgment-for-woman-who-tried-to-drown-two-girls-by-throwing-them-off-a-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593238\/","title":{"rendered":"Judgment for woman who tried to drown two girls by throwing them off a bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Do you want to go to heaven?”\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was the last question a young girl heard before she was thrown into a river wearing her princess dress and school shoes.<\/p>\n

She had been standing on a bridge over the Georges River in Sydney’s south west with another girl in September 2023 when Hoda Elabady posed the query, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

\"HodaHoda Elabady (left) arrives at Parramatta District Court, Sydney, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AAP Image\/Bianca De Marchi)<\/p>\n

“No, I have a bright future,” the child replied, revealing her dream to be a police officer when she grows up.<\/p>\n

Elabady then picked her up and threw her into the water 1.8 metres below the bridge, a court was told.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old then asked the second girl whether she wanted to “go to God” before also throwing her from the bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She faced a NSW District Court today after pleading not guilty to two counts of attempting to drown the girls with intent to murder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elabady could not be held responsible for her actions due to her severe mental illness, her lawyer previously argued.<\/p>\n

She lives with schizophrenia and was experiencing acute psychosis which involved hallucinations telling her to kill the girls and die by suicide.<\/p>\n

Elabady had watched from above, anger plastered on her face, as the two girls struggled to remain above the water, Judge Huw Baker said.<\/p>\n

“Please let us back up,” one of the girls yelled.<\/p>\n

Instead the woman attempted to die by suicide, sustaining significant injuries to her legs and lower body, the court was told.<\/p>\n

Standing on something submerged in the river, with nothing but a stick to help them stay afloat, the girls hugged each other and tried to signal for help.<\/p>\n

A passer-by finally heard their calls at midday and pulled them from the water before they were taken to hospital, Judge Baker said.<\/p>\n

“(We) recognise the bravery of the two young girls who, for a very terrifying two hours, were in the water in the Georges River in what can only be described as the most horrific and terrifying circumstances,” he said.<\/p>\n

The judge found Elabady had tried to drown the children but could not be held criminally responsible for her actions because of her mental illnesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She is believed to have been living with an untreated mental impairment since she was 17 years old, according to mental health experts cited in court.<\/p>\n

Elabady’s mental health deteriorated in the months before the incident, the court was told.<\/p>\n

She began telling others she had been talking with an angel and one day said the “evil touched me” before revealing a mark on her thigh.<\/p>\n

One of the specialists had “absolute medical confidence” she did not know what she had done was wrong, Judge Baker noted.<\/p>\n

She currently shows no overt symptoms of psychosis and, with ongoing treatment, he said she would not pose a risk to herself or the community.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Do you want to go to heaven?”\u00a0 It was the last question a young girl heard before she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-593238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}