NSW mother who stabbed sons, 9 and 11, to death deemed not criminally responsible

A 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.

He had also received a notification from the school that the children were absent and was unable to reach their mother.

The father, who had separated from the mother in 2020 and no longer lived with the family, went to the home about 12.30pm and found the woman semi-conscious in a bathtub.

“What have you done? What’s wrong? Where are the boys?” he asked, according to an agreed statement of facts.

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 disturbing internet searches in the month before the killings, including about murder, suicide, anatomy and other cases involving parents killing their children.

She even kept searching while going about seemingly ordinary family activities with her children and their father.

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.

Court documents reveal she continued carrying out searches while the children were inside the shop.

The family later attended the boys’ sporting activities and had dinner before arriving home about 7.55pm.

After the boys went to bed, their mother armed herself with a knife and entered their bedrooms.

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.

The woman later filled a bathtub with water and inflicted numerous cuts on herself.