A court has heard a woman killed her five-year-old son and attempted to drown her eight-year-old son to “save” them from her ex-partner.
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The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, confirmed in Wagga Supreme Court on Monday her pleas of not guilty to one count of murder and one count of attempting to drown a person with intent to murder.
Crown prosecutor Max Pincott alleged the woman drowned one child and tried to drown the other in the Murray River near Moama, in March last year.
However, senior counsel for the defence Eric Wilson told the court his client would be defending the charges on the grounds of mental illness.
“She was suffering from a disease of the mind that caused a defect in reasoning at the time,” Mr Wilson said.
“Although she knew the nature and quality of the act, she knew it was wrong to kill somebody, she was not able to morally reason in a clear and proper way in relation to her actions.”
Mr Wilson said his client, in her mind, thought she was protecting her children from her ex-partner.
“The delusion that she was going to be raped or killed by her former partner, that she had to prevent her children from witnessing that or being killed themselves, is at the centre,” he said.
“There was some premonition in her mind that something was going to happen, that she was going to be killed, and she couldn’t allow her children to witness or be a part of that process.”
The court heard the woman reported hearing voices since the age of 7 or 8, self-harmed for the first time at 9, had a history of substance abuse since 13, and was abused by a former partner between 2014 and 2016.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Jonathon Adams, who assessed her after the alleged offences, said she likely suffered from a borderline personality disorder, a major depressive disorder, and auditory hallucinations.
“From a psychiatric perspective, I think it’s reasonable to suggest she didn’t have a full understanding of the moral ramifications of what it is she is said to have done,” Dr Adams said.
“She thought she was under surveillance and very strong persecution by [her ex-partner] throughout that period of time … and, as a result of those beliefs, she felt she needed to kill her children so that they weren’t killed by him.”
The trial continues.
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