A New South Wales mother who killed her two sons, aged nine and 11, in September 2024 has been found not criminally responsible because of severe mental illness. The Supreme Court ruled that major depression meant she could not understand that stabbing the children was wrong, despite finding that she committed the killings.

Evidence included a letter seeking forgiveness and internet searches about murder, suicide, divorce and killing children. The court heard she had recently sought help for insomnia and anxiety, and told a psychiatrist she believed her sons would be safe from harm if they died. She will become a forensic patient, with any future release dependent on a mental health tribunal deciding she poses no danger.