Bombshell replace on Aussie mum who stabbed her two younger sons ‘to avoid wasting them’ on the facet of a freeway
A mother who pulled over on a highway late at night and stabbed her two children because she thought they were in danger will not face a criminal trial over it.
Supreme Court Justice Sandi McDonald found Megan Jayne Somerville, 37, not guilty of attempting to murder her two sons in 2022 by way of mental incompetence.
Justice McDonald found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Ms Somerville stabbed her two children on the side of Adelaide‘s North-South Motorway but did not know this was wrong.
‘The objective elements of the offences are established beyond reasonable doubt,’ she said.
‘Ms Somerville was mentally incompetent to commit the two offences of attempted murder and at the time of the incident, she was suffering from mental impairment and as a consequence did not know that the conduct was wrong.’
The judge found that her ‘mental impairment was substantially caused by self induced intoxication’, the Advertiser reported.
‘Ms Somerville is not guilty of the offences of attempted murder by way of mental incompetence.’
The police were called to the North-South Motorway at around 11.30pm on August 15, 2022 after reports a woman was being held by a member of the public.
Supreme Court Justice Sandi McDonald found Megan Jayne Somerville (pictured) not guilty of attempting to murder her two sons in 2022 by way of mental incompetence
Justice McDonald found, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Ms Somerville (pictured) stabbed her children on the side of Adelaide’s North-South Motorway but did not know this was wrong
The court previously heard Ms Somerville stopped her silver Honda sedan and took her sons, aged 3 and 8 at the time out of the car.
She then stabbed them ‘a number of times’ with a knife.
The court also heard Ms Somerville has used meth, cannabis and prescription medication that night.
A forensic psychiatrist said Ms Somerville’s account of what happened included a fear that she and her boys were in great danger.
‘She had such severe delusions that were of a certain nature that meant she thought her children were in danger of a fate worse than death, that they were being groomed to kill her, and when that was done, they would be abducted, tortured and killed,’ the psychiatrist said.
‘In harming the children, she thought she was doing the right thing in the circumstances.’
Prosecutor Lucy Boord SC said there would probably be a victim impact statement when Ms Somerville returns to court in June.
