An NSW mother who stabbed her two young sons to death in their Blue Mountains home has been deemed not criminally responsible because of a mental health impairment.
The boys, aged nine and 11, were found dead by their father on September 10, 2024, after he became concerned when they failed to make their usual phone call on the way to school.
The father went to the home about 12.30pm and found the woman semi-conscious in a bathtub.
The father found both boys dead on the bedroom floor and called triple-0.
The NSW Supreme Court heard the 42-year-old mother had carried out a series of internet searches in the month before the killings, including about murder, suicide, anatomy and other cases involving parents killing their children.
On September 9, the day before the boys were found, the children’s father picked them up from school before meeting the woman to buy the boys shoes.
The family later attended the boys’ sporting activities and had dinner before arriving home about 7.55pm.
The court heard it was not known precisely when the boys died, but CCTV from a nearby property captured audio of a noise consistent with a young person screaming at 11.54pm.
Justice Cavanagh found the woman knew the nature and quality of her actions when she killed the boys, but because of her mental health impairment, she did not know her actions were wrong in the legal sense.
Justice Cavanagh found the defence of mental health impairment had been established and entered a special verdict of act proven but not criminally responsible on both charges.