A 42-year-old New South Wales mother stabbed her two sons, aged nine and 11, in their beds in September 2024 after becoming distressed that their father was expecting a child with his new partner. Evidence presented to the NSW Supreme Court showed she had made increasingly disturbing online searches about murder, suicide, knife injuries and mothers killing their children. Justice Richard Cavanagh ruled that she was not criminally responsible because a mental-health condition left her unable to reason.

Her searches began about a month before the killings and included references to bodies, murder-suicides, fatal knife wounds, arteries, cyanide and suicide methods. She had also bought a knife set that remained at the family home, sought medical help for anxiety and obtained medication before the deaths. The court documents described continued contact and co-parenting with her former husband during this period, highlighting the deterioration in her mental state before the killings.