Aus. woman charged over Net baby sale

MELBOURNE, Australia (CNN) -- An Australian woman who tried to sell her unborn baby over the Internet for $5,600 (Aust. $10,000) is facing two charges over the incident.

Australian newspapers report Friday the woman attempted to sell her daughter to an American couple in May last year, but reneged on the deal after the baby was born.

The 39-year-old woman -- a mother of three -- faces two charges under Australia's Adoption Act and could be jailed for up to two years if found guilty.

It is the first Australian case of a mother trying to sell a child on the Internet, Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper says.

The baby girl is currently in foster care with the mother now fighting to win back the child.

The mother told the Herald-Sun she had wanted to give up the baby because the pregnancy was the result of rape and she was financially destitute at the time.

Case adjourned

But once the child was born, she could not give it up and she received no money from the New York-based couple who had agreed to buy her daughter.

The baby had been advertised for sale on a Web site called www.surromomsonline.com, which is designed to link surrogate mums or sperm and embryo donors with hopeful parents.

Her appeal attracted replies from 80 to 100 couples across the world, according to the Herald-Sun.

The mother appeared Thursday in Dandenong Magistrates' Court in the southern State of Victoria.

Her case was adjourned to be heard at a later date.