Queensland mum Maree Crabtree cleared of murdering son with drug-laced smoothie

Maree Mavis Crabtree, 59, stood trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court accused of killing her 26-year-old son, Jonathan, with an overdose of prescription painkillers on July 19, 2017 at the family’s home before filing a $125,000 insurance claim.

The jury today returned its verdict of not guilty on all charges of murder, attempted murder and fraud after deliberating for almost two and a half days.

Crabtree held her face in her hands as the verdicts were read and declined to comment as she left the court.

Crabtree had pleaded not guilty to murdering Jonathan at the home north of the Gold Coast and attempting to kill him in January 2017.

Judge Martin Burns formally acquitted Crabtree and discharged her from the dock. He told the jury they had made a “huge contribution” to society after a very difficult period of deliberation.

“You have my gratitude and thanks to the court and the community,” Burns said.

During the 19-day trial, jurors heard competing claims that Crabtree killed her son for financial and personal motives or was falsely accused as part of a revenge plot by her daughter.

Defense lawyer Angus Edwards had argued there were three other possibilities for Jonathan’s death.

“He died of a drug overdose. We know that. He was a drug addict. Was it suicide or an accidental overdose?’ Edwards told the jury in his closing address.

The court heard that Jonathan had attempted suicide several times in recent years using various methods, and his mental health deteriorated after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident.

He later became violent towards his mother and sister Tara, with Edwards claiming this could have prompted Tara to kill him and trap her mother so she could take sole possession of their family home.

“Jonathan had a lot of demons. “If he was a good person, he wasn’t anymore,” Edwards said.

In pre-recorded evidence, Tara said she watched the hallway and kitchen as her mother crushed prescription painkillers and anti-anxiety medications while Jonathan lay unconscious in bed.

Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco claimed Crabtree wanted Jonathan dead because she feared losing the family home in a lawsuit brought by a woman affected by his pharmacy robbery.

Jonathan was part owner of the house and, as a violent drug addict with a traumatic brain injury, could not simply be evicted, the jury was told.

The court heard Crabtree told a neighbor: ‘I wish Jonathan had died in the car crash. I wish he was dead.’

Edwards said the comments were taken out of context.

Jurors were told that Crabtree had stockpiled Tara’s oxycodone medication and Jonathan was found dead in his bedroom with no signs of the painkiller around his body.

The court heard Crabtree allegedly told Tara not to help Jonathan if she heard him struggling after drinking the drug-infused smoothie, and to tell police it was suicide.

Tara waited two and a half years before changing her story to the police. She said she was angry because she had been in the hospital for seven months.

In exchange for her testimony, she was granted immunity from prosecution.

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