A new mum was suffering from a "significant disturbed mind" when she put her three-month-old child on train tracks, a court heard.
The train driver was forced to activate the emergency brakes and shut his eyes as he braced for impact.
Melissa Arbuckle, 32, appeared in Victoria’s Supreme Court in, Melbourne, Australia on Tuesday after pleading guilty to one count of infanticide.
Her lawyer told the court that Arbuckle had a “significantly disturbed mind” and had intended to take her own life too after killing her daughter Lily, Daily Star reports.
On the day the Lily was put on the tracks, Arbuckle texted her now estranged husband to say their daughter Lily was "losing it after a feed".
She said she decided to take the baby for a walk to the tracks at Upwey in Melbourne's east, where a train driver used her daughter's hand to wave at the train, the prosecutor said.
The court heard that Arbuckle started looking for information online about trains, including speed, just moments into the walk.
Police alleged that a train driver spotted Arbuckle moving towards the tracks in a "suspicious" way.
The court heard how the driver activated the emergency brakes as the veterinarian placed Lily on the tracks and was trying to lay down herself.
The train driver told police he “closed his eyes” when he knew he was going to hit the pair.
When emergency services arrived, Arbuckle was trying to self-harm, the court was told.
Lily was rushed to hospital but died a short time later from traumatic head injuries.
The young mum had been described as "really down" in the weeks before the tragedy.
She believed she injured her baby because she rocked the bassinet too vigorously, the court was told.
Ms Megan Tittensor, Arbuckle's lawyer, said: "She had a fixed delusional belief she had harmed her child and they were both broken.
“She had come to believe dying was her only option. She would hear voices telling her she was a bad mother."
Arbuckle’s estranged husband and Lily’s father, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It is hard to describe just how painful that was. My dear little girl was gone."
In a statement read to the court, the train driver said “every night I would dream of death,” after the collision.
The day after the train crash Arbuckle was diagnosed with severe major post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis.
She will be sentenced on April 7.
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