Arabic version: تبرئة أم من بلو ماونتنز من المسؤولية الجنائية

According to ABC News, the NSW Supreme Court has found a Blue Mountains woman accused of killing her two sons in September 2024 not criminally responsible for their deaths.

The boys, aged nine and 11, were stabbed to death in the family home. Their father later found them and called Triple Zero. The woman had pleaded not guilty to murder on the basis of mental health impairment.

Justice Richard Cavanagh entered a special verdict of act proven but not criminally responsible. He said expert psychiatric evidence overwhelmingly indicated the accused did not know her actions were wrong, despite knowing the nature and quality of the acts.

The judge said three psychiatric doctors, who interviewed the accused separately by audio-visual link, gave evidence with a degree of similarity, if not unanimity. They concluded she had severe major depression with psychotic thought processes at the time of the killings.

The woman will be detained at a location determined by the Mental Health Review Tribunal. Justice Cavanagh said the tribunal will supervise her care and treatment, and she cannot be released until it is satisfied her release would not seriously endanger her or any member of the public.