Trial begins for WA woman alleged to have attempted to murder disabled daughter by injecting insulin

A WA mother tried to murder her own severely disabled daughter by injecting her with insulin after reaching the end of her ability to cope, a court has been told.

The attempted murder trial of the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began in the WA Supreme Court on Monday.

“Rather than getting (her child) the level of care she needed, she decided to euthanize her … and then set about murdering her,” prosecutor Ben Stanwix told the jury during his opening statement to the court.

The now 42-year-old woman’s daughter had been born with a rare genetic disorder that had left her with severe cerebral palsy, profound neurological damage and unable to talk, walk, and eat.

‘Exhausting life’

The mother was the sole and primary carer for her daughter, doing everything for her including feeding, cleaning her, and administering her medication.

“On any view [she] had a difficult and exhausting life caring for a severely disabled daughter,” Mr Stanwix said.

Her husband looked after the couple’s three other children in the regional town they lived in.

However, their disabled daughter received “sub-optimal” care from her mother in relation to her mobility, diet and digestive issues, the court heard.

The mother had missed several appointments at Perth Children’s Hospital where she could have received help, Mr Stanwix said, and instead left her daughter’s care largely in the hands of a local GP who she regularly saw.

He said in late 2021, the accused told the doctor her daughter’s condition was deteriorating and she was nearing the end of her life.

But the prosecutor said that was not true.

“This is a very sad situation where (the accused) decided she’d had enough and decided to kill,” Mr Stanwix said.

Insulin prescription

Mr Stanwix said she asked the doctor for a prescription for insulin in December 2021 after he had told her “it was the most humane way” for her to end her daughter’s life.

Mr Stanwix said the mother obtained the insulin from a chemist but had second thoughts and disposed of the drug.

It was not until after another consultation with the doctor, on January 17, 2022, that he gave her another prescription and she bought more insulin.

Around midday on January 19, 2022, the accused “injected her daughter with the insulin in an attempt to kill her,” Mr Stanwix said.

Her husband had been on the beach with their other children at the time. When he returned, it was clear their daughter was “showing signs of distress” and the mother called triple-0.

But Mr Stanwix said during the recorded conversation she calmly told the operator her daughter “was not in any danger”, despite knowing she had just given her a potentially deadly dose of insulin and that it was a “life-threatening medical emergency”.

He told the court she remained silent about the insulin, even after they were referred to a larger regional hospital and then flown to Perth Children’s Hospital, where their daughter’s condition was eventually stabilized.

After blood tests revealed she had been administered a massive dose of insulin, the mother was interviewed by police, and Mr Stanwix told the jury she eventually confessed to injecting her daughter with the drug.

She has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge.

Mother ‘didn’t intend to kill’, lawyer

Her lawyer Anthony Eyers has previously told the court at the heart of the matter was whether his client intended to kill her child at the time and that her alleged action was “an act born out of desperation.”

At his opening address on Monday, Mr Eyers said the mother gave her child the insulin “to induce a medical emergency to precipitate (her daughter’s) admission to hospital” to receive the care she needed for her “worsening condition”.

“She didn’t intend to kill her daughter and by that play God,” he said.

Mr Eyers denied the accused told her GP she wanted to end her daughter’s life.

He described the GP as unprofessional and someone who made his patient’s problems his own.

Mr Eyers suggested the doctor “sought to take matters into his own hands” in prescribing the insulin to the mother.

The trial continues.

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