Screams heard before fatal balcony plunge

A man and woman were heard screaming moments before a mother and her three-month-old boy plunged from a second-storey balcony on the NSW Central Coast yesterday afternoon.

The 5m fall proved fatal for the baby while the 43-year-old mother remains in hospital with serious back injuries.

The mother was holding the baby in her arms at the Niagara Park house when they fell through a waist-high painted steel sheet barrier and fly screen, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The woman reportedly fell only one storey, to the roof of a garage below, but the baby, named as Aidan, continued to fall to the concrete driveway another storey down.

A neighbour told the newspaper she was inside her house just after 1pm (AEDT) when she heard a man and a woman shouting, followed by a "big bang".

Paramedics rushed to the home to find the baby with critical head injuries.

He was flown to Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney but died shortly after arriving.

The mother was taken to Gosford Hospital in a serious condition and was expected to be transferred to a Sydney hospital.

Neighbours said the family had only recently moved in and they had seen the mother nursing her baby on the balcony several times.

Forensics officers and detectives spent several hours at the home yesterday.

Police continue to investigate and will prepare a report for the coroner.

Source: Daily Telegraph

Author: Erin Tennant, Approving editor: Martin Zavan