Emergency workers have broken down while describing the discovery of the body of the five-year-old boy allegedly drowned by his mother in the Murray River.
"He was so little, it was awful, the whole thing has been awful, and everyone here is devastated," one emergency services worker told the Riverine Herald.
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NSW police have confirmed the body of the missing five-year-old has been found in the Murray River at Moama. (Video courtesy: ABC News 24)
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Body of boy found in Murray River
NSW police have confirmed the body of the missing five-year-old has been found in the Murray River at Moama. (Video courtesy: ABC News 24)
"All of us have been hit so hard."
The body was found near where the child was believed to have gone into the river.
The little boy's body was taken to Deniliquin on Saturday, and police say family members will now go through the heartbreaking process of identifying the child.
A post mortem will be conducted in Newcastle, the Riverine Herald reported.
Emergency services personnel involved in the search are also being offered counselling after many of them broke down, overwhelmed by the tragedy of the discovery.
A police spokesman said the dead boy's nine-year-old brother remains in a stable condition at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
The five-year-old was recovered after a search by local police, SES, Maritime Rescue and the Victorian police air wing and divers.
The search began about 7pm on Thursday after a 27-year-old woman is alleged to have taken the boy and his nine-year-old brother to the river in Moama to kill them, and continued through Friday during daylight and then started again Saturday morning.
The mother, who allegedly admitted to trying to drown the children, has already been charged with attempted murder of the older boy who remains in hospital in a serious condition.
A court on Saturday heard she is likely to be charged with more offences. She did not appear for the brief hearing that was held in Deniliquin, where the boys lived, and where she was extradited to from Victoria on Friday evening.
She has been remanded until another hearing on Monday in Deniliquin.
"We anticipate there will another charge," the police prosecutor told the court earlier on Saturday.
The mother is expected to be transferred from Deniliquin police station to Junee Correctional Centre later on Saturday.
She has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly taking the two boys to the river in Moama, on the NSW-Victoria border.
Peter Hebbard, the Legal Aid duty solicitor for the 27-year-old, said the woman was "confused" and "upset".
"She's pretty upset. I get the distinct impression she really doesn't know what's going on, not in terms of the legal side of it but, in terms of just what's happened with her children," he said outside court.
"She told me I know these are serious matters and I'm not going to make a bail application."
Mr Hebbard said he had no idea whether his client would fight the charge. "At these stage she certainly hasn't given me instructions on how she will plead."
Her aunt was standing outside the court grounds in Deniliquin with some friends waiting for her niece to arrive.
"We're all asking: Why, why? We want answers," she said.
The mother can not be identified because of legal reasons.
Her aunt said the Department of Human Services, police and corrections authorities "have a lot to answer for" in how the tragedy unfolded and why it wasn't prevented.
"Nothing was done when the family was calling for help," she said.
The father of the boys has spoken of his devastation and said he was numb after learning about what had happened.
The children had been in the care of their grandparents and their grandmother remains by the nine-year-old's side at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
Dale Brooks, representing the children's grandmother, said the boys' mother had been living in a caravan on the back of the grandparents' property in Deniliquin since she was released from jail in February.
Mr Brooks said he understood the woman had served roughly six months' jail time for breaking and entering. The grandparents last year took out an apprehended violence order against the woman, who underwent a mental health assessment after a decline in her mental state on Wednesday.
"What's really, really troubling about it was neither the police nor the Department of Corrective Services or Family and Community Services actually considered the risk to these little fellers," Mr Brooks said.
On Friday, police told a Victorian court that she had told her eldest son to get in the river where she held his head under the water before he escaped and was then attacked by a pit bull dog that happened to be in the area.
The woman then allegedly turned to her younger son, who had been screaming, and held his face under the water.
Detective Sergeant Trent Swinton told the Victorian court on Friday that the woman made full admissions to her role in the incident, and told police of her "intention to kill both children". The court also heard she allegedly told witnesses the night before that she "had to drown my babies".
A neighbour outside the court on Saturday said it was impossible to imagine what the grandmother of the children was going through.
"This was her daughter and it happened to her grandchildren. And the child [in hospital] has lost his mother and ... his brother, it will change his life forever. It's awful," they said.
Deniliquin locals say the grandparents were well-respected. Others said that while they did not know the mother personally, they knew of her and her "problems".
"The town's pretty shocked and it's hit a nerve," one said.
with Riverine Herald, Adam Holmes and Rachel Olding