A woman who drowned her ‘evil’ two-year-old daughter in the bath of their Sydney home has been found not guilty of the murder by reason of mental illness.
The 27-year-old woman, who cannot be named, immersed the young child in the bath during a psychotic episode in September 2016.
In the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday, Acting Justice Peter Hidden – who heard the trial without a jury – concluded she was not guilty of murder due to her mental illness.
Woman, 27 (pictured) found not guilty of her daughter’s murder by reason of mental illness
The two-year-old (pictured) was found dead at home with a white towel placed over her body
The mother was admitted to hospital soon after the incident after she was seen speeding in the Katoomba area and crashing before sitting in the middle of the road, holding a Bible.
She asked police if they believed in God and told hospital staff her child was being cared for by her grandfather.
Two days later, a friend of the woman found the child dead in the home with a white towel placed over her body.
Mother told police she drowned the infant ‘to get rid of the evil in her (pictured: family home)
The mother (pictured) told psychiatrists in custody that she had deep remorse for her actions
The mother told police she drowned the infant ‘to get rid of the evil in her’ and believed she was now in heaven.
‘The effect of what she recounted was that she was engaged in a deranged form of exorcism, at the expense of the child’s life,’ the judge said.
The woman sat in silence with a furrowed brow as the judgment was read out, wiping tears from her cheeks, and was supported only by her father in the public gallery.
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Forensic team enter the state-owned home in Katoomba in September last year (pictured)
The girl was the woman’s third child, with authorities taking away her twins shortly after their birth.
While in custody, the mother told psychiatrist Professor David Greenberg – engaged on behalf of the Crown – she had deep remorse for her actions.
Dr Greenberg noted she ‘is upset and cannot believe that she killed her child’ and it all felt ‘like a bad dream’.
The judge ordered the woman be detained in a correctional facility, or a place determined by the Mental Health Review Tribunal, and released only after a long and staged regime of treatment if deemed safe to do so.
Police cordoned off the property last year (pictured) while they investigated the girl’s death