Australiaabc.net.auWoman who killed her two sons in the Blue Mountains found not criminally responsible
A NSW court found the Blue Mountains mother who stabbed her two sons to death in 2024 not criminally responsible due to severe mental illness.
The woman, who was wiping her eyes in court on Wednesday, will instead be detained at a facility determined by mental health experts.
The NSW Supreme Court entered a special verdict finding the woman not criminally responsible for killing her two young sons in the Blue Mountains in September 2024.
Three psychiatric experts unanimously found she was suffering severe psychotic depression and believed her children would be better off dead in what she saw as a bad world.
She will be detained at a location set by the Mental Health Review Tribunal, which will supervise her care and must approve any future release.
The woman will be held at a facility set by the Mental Health Review Tribunal and cannot be released until the tribunal is satisfied she poses no danger to herself or the public.
The NSW Supreme Court has found a woman accused of killing her two children in September 2024 is not criminally responsible for their deaths.
The incident occurred in the Blue Mountains where two young boys, aged nine and 11, were stabbed to death by their mother.
The children were later found in their home by their father, who then called Triple Zero (000).
Justice Richard Cavanagh told the court the accused had entered pleas of not guilty to charges of murder on the basis of mental health impairment.
"Having received the further evidence and having considered all of the other evidence relied upon by the parties, I am satisfied that a special verdict of act proven but not criminally responsible should be entered," he said.
"The expert psychiatric evidence is overwhelmingly to the effect that the accused did not know that her actions in killing her children were wrong, even though she knew the nature and quality of the acts that she was undertaking," he said.
"The determination of whether a person did not know that the act was wrong is a matter for the court, but the court must rely on expert psychiatric opinion in forming that view."
Psychiatric conclusions considered
Justice Cavanagh read aloud the details of expert evidence from three psychiatric doctors who interviewed the accused several times individually via audio-visual link (AVL), and concluded there was a "degree of similarity, if not unanimity, in their evidence".
"They considered that at the time of the acts the accused was suffering from such a severe case of major depression that her thought processes were psychotic," he said.
"They also considered that the accused was nihilistic in her thinking and wasn't able to reason other than her children would be better off dead in such a bad world."
Throughout the judgement proceeding, the accused sat slumped in her chair via AVL and did not raise her head once, but at times, was seen wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.
She will now be detained at a location determined by the Mental Health Review Tribunal.
"The tribunal will review and supervise the accused, as well as ensure that she is provided with appropriate care and treatment," Justice Cavanagh said.
"The accused may not be released until the tribunal is satisfied that the safety of the accused or any member of the public will not be seriously endangered by the accused's release."
Justice Cavanagh acknowledged the case as particularly tragic.
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