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Sanaya’s mum confessed to toddler’s murder

The mother of toddler Sanaya Sahib, who was killed and left in a Melbourne creek, has allegedly confessed to murdering her daughter.

Mitcham woman Sofina Nikat, 22, briefly faced an out-of-sessions hearing at a Melbourne police station on Tuesday night charged with one count of murder.

Nikat was remanded in custody and set to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning – but she was excused from court after a medical assessment. She was not granted bail.

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Nikat’s lawyer Michael McNamara told the court a psychiatric nurse and doctor had seen his client this morning and asked she not be brought up to court.

“We’re aware that she’s not well,” he said.

The magistrate allowed Nikat not to appear “given that information about her mental state”.

Mr McNamara told Wednesday’s hearing his client had already been made a protected prisoner in custody and he believed she was at risk of self-harm.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stuart Bailey told the out-of-sessions hearing on Tuesday night that Nikat had made “full admissions” in a police interview to killing her 14-month-old daughter.

He said Nikat was arrested on Tuesday morning in Mont Albert.

Nikat, wearing thongs and a dark cardigan over her clothes, only spoke when asked by the bail justice if she had been looked after in custody.

Holding her hand to her face, she quietly responded: “Yeah, yeah.”

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Police earlier said Sofina Nikat had told them a stranger abducted her daughter. Photo: Facebook

Nikat was holding a book in her other hand.

Sanaya’s body was found in the Darebin Creek on Sunday less than 24 hours after Nikat had told police her daughter had been snatched from her pram in a Heidelberg West park.

The tot’s disappearance sparked a large search that included mounted police, the police airwing, SES volunteers and members of the public.

At the time Nikat told police a man, of African appearance, smelling of alcohol and wearing no shoes, had pushed her to the ground before running off with the toddler.

She said she gave chase but couldn’t catch him.

Nikat and her daughter had been staying with relatives in Heidelberg West after she separated from Sanaya’s father, police had previously told reporters.

Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton on Tuesday tweeted: “Tks [Thanks] to our members for their hard work on this”.

It is understood much of Nikat’s family live in Fiji.

-AAP

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