In October 2007, two boys made the gruesome discovery of Dean’s body after spotting a suitcase floating in the pond in Mandurama Reserve at Ambarvale, in Sydney’s southwest.

On Tuesday in the NSW Supreme Court, Rachel Pfitzner, 27, pleaded guilty to murdering two-year-old Dean on October 11, 2007, at Rosemeadow.

This week the grandparents of little Dean have questioned why DoCS didn’t investigate Pfitzner’s drug problems better and take her three children away from her, which yesterday was echoed by Dean’s father’s cousin and Dubbo resident, Doris Shillingsworth.

Ms Shillingsworth said yesterday that she was happy to hear that Pfitzner had owned up to the heinous crime of killing her son, but questioned why Dean had been left in her care before his death.

“It is a very sad and emotional time for us because he was such a beautiful little boy, he could have been anything when he grew up,” Ms Shillingsworth said.

“Its hard to understand what mind set she (Pfitzner) must have been in to do what she did, and why Dean was allowed to be with her unattended.

“DoCS should have monitored her visits with Dean.”

Ms Shillingsworth said she held no hate or anger toward Pfitzner for what she did because she knew that she would be living with the truth of what happened for the rest of her life.

She said that for Pfitzner to own up for what she did to Dean was the best thing she could have done.

“She (Pfitzner) is going to have to live with what she has done now for the rest of her life,” Ms Shillingsworth said.

“You can say your angry or want to bash someone, but the fact is she is going to be left with the feeling of knowing what she did now forever.”

Wearing casual clothes and with her hair tied back, Pfitzner replied “guilty” when read the charge on Tuesday.

After she pleaded guilty, prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC told Justice Robert Allan Hulme he would forward him a statement of the crown facts before her sentencing hearing on October 8.

Pfitzner told police her son lost consciousness after she shook him and threw him to the ground, according to evidence at her committal hearing last October.

But forensic pathologist Dr Dianne Little told the magistrate the child may have been suffocated.

His body, which was wrapped in plastic bags in the suitcase, was so badly decomposed the cause of death could not be determined.

But Dr Little said it was possible Dean was alive when he was dumped in the duck pond.

Soon after his body was found, a memorial service was held at the pond where 2000 people expressed their sadness at the toddler’s tragic death.

In November 2007, the little boy was buried in a tiny white coffin at Brewarrina, before hundreds of balloons in the Aboriginal colours of red, yellow and black were released.

anna.yeo@ruralpress.com