Mentally ill mum believed her baby was a demon when she killed him: court

The mentally ill mother of a 10-month-old baby believed he was a demon and didn’t know what she was doing when she tried to drown him before fatally restricting his breathing, a court has been told.

The woman, who cannot be identified, faced the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to attempting to drown her son with intent to murder him and murder.

The court was told she had taken her 10-month-old son for a swim in a pool on the evening of March 19 and attempted to drown him.

In an interview with police, the woman variously explained the baby had walked into the pool, that she had tried to smother him in the water, and that he had sunk after she let go of him.

The infant was revived by a good Samaritan who performed CPR while the mother was “screaming and emotional”, the court was told.

Paramedics who rushed to the scene reported she was displaying odd behaviour and separated her from the 10-month-old as they rushed him to hospital.

Four days later, the court was told the woman did an act that caused the baby to stop breathing.

The mother gave differing accounts to police, saying she put the baby to sleep and found him unconscious and that she suffocated him by holding him close to her chest.

She tried to perform CPR before emergency services arrived and rushed the infant to hospital, where he later died.

Justice Sarah McNaughton concluded the mother was not criminally responsible for attempting to drown her son and fatally restricting his breathing.

“I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the physical acts,” she said.

“I am also satisfied on the balance of probabilities, based on the combined and undisputed opinions of Dr (Richard) Furst and Professor (David) Greenberg, that the accused did not know the acts were wrong.”

Justice McNaughton determined the mother was unable to reason “with a moderate degree of sense and composure” about whether harming her baby was wrong “because of a mental health impairment in the nature of a psychotic disorder”.

The court was told the woman had “suffered an exacerbation and escalation of her mental health problems” over the past four years.

She believed she was responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, the universe was speaking to her, and endured auditory hallucinations.

When the baby was six-months-old, the court was told his mother went to a psychiatrist and reported she had been “losing touch” and felt she needed to end her life.

“She alleged she had repeated thoughts that something bad was going to happen to her son and that he would do something bad,” Justice McNaughton said.

The woman told police she had noticed the infant wasn’t her son one week before he nearly died in the pool.

“At the time of the incidents, the cluster of psychotic symptoms led the accused to believe that her son was not her son and had been replaced by some type of evil spirit or demon such that she had to kill him and he would be better off that way,” Justice McNaughton said.

In an interview with police, the woman said she thought she was “supposed to do it” and she “thought it was right at the time”.

Medical reports from two forensic psychiatrists, Dr Furst and Professor Greenberg, opined the woman was living with schizophrenic disorder or schizoaffective disorder.

However, a third report from NSW Justice Health posited a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

The NSW Justice Health report found there were reasonable grounds to conclude the mother required ongoing care, treatment, and control for her safety and the safety of others.

“If inadequately treated, the accused’s condition is likely to deteriorate and she may then pose an increased risk of harm to others and/or herself,” the report asserted.

Justice McNaughton ordered the woman be detained at a forensic hospital or another facility determined by the Mental Health Review Tribunal until released by due process of law.

“These facts are, on any view, truly tragic,” she said.

“This is a very sad and distressing matter for all concerned.”

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