Troubled mum found not liable for killing her two sons

A woman who stabbed her two young sons, aged nine and 11, will not be held criminally responsible for their deaths, a NSW Supreme Court judge has ruled. The unnamed mother, now 44, was found to have a severe mental health impairment at the time of the killings in September 2024. The woman's relationship with her ex-husband, the boys' father, ended in 2020.

In the months leading up to the incident, she displayed concerning online behavior after learning that his new partner was pregnant. She conducted numerous searches related to taking her own life and those of her children, as well as a scientific article about parents who kill their children and themselves. On the night of the killings, she purchased two knives for her children as Father's Day gifts and made over thirty disturbing internet searches about violence.

Justice Richard Cavanagh agreed with both defense and prosecution lawyers that the woman could not be held criminally responsible for the killings due to her extensive mental health impairment.