Raelene Polymiadis allegedly poisoned her parents, Brenda and Lynton Anderson with her own insulin, SA court told
Suppressed evidence in the case against a diabetic woman who allegedly poisoned her 94-year-old parents a year apart may be revealed later today.
Police & Courts
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The diabetic daughter of alleged murder victim Brenda Anderson used her own insulin to poison her mother, then gave her a second, fatal dose when she began to recover, a court has heard.
On Wednesday, prosecutors also told the Adelaide Magistrates Court that Raelene Polymiadis used the same tactic to kill her father 12 months later – then tried to make it look like suicide.
They urged the court to reject Mrs Polymiadis’ bid for home detention bail, saying there was extensive evidence of her attempts to interfere with both witnesses and evidence.
Those allegations cannot be published, however, as defence counsel successfully applied for them to be suppressed until 4pm on Thursday.
Michael Foundas, prosecuting, said both the suppressed evidence and other materials amounted to a “strong” case that Mrs Polymiadis was a double-murderer.
“Neither Mrs nor Mr Anderson were diabetic, neither of them were in any need of insulin, and the accused was the only member of her family who was diabetic,” he said.
Mrs Polymiadis, 62, of Craigmore, was arrested on Tuesday and has yet to plead to two counts of murder.
Mrs Anderson died in hospital on March 15, 2022, as did Mr Anderson on April 30 this year – their deaths were subsequently declared major crimes.
On Wednesday, Mr Foundas said Mrs Anderson had suffered a fall on February 23, 2022, after which Mrs Polymiadis visited her in hospital.
“What is alleged is that she, in the hospital, administered a dose of insulin … by March 12, the deceased was suffering hypoglycaemia as a result of the accused’s actions.
“Her condition improved somewhat and, on March 15, the accused visited her again … shortly after that, Mrs Anderson’s blood sugar levels started to change and became quite irregular.
“Our case is that a second dose of insulin had been administered, by the accused, to her mother who ultimately passed away.”
He said Mr Anderson was found unresponsive on the floor of his home on April 30, 2023, with tablets of oxazepam – an anti-anxiety drug – “scattered around”.
“A post-mortem examination revealed two drugs in his system – oxazepam insufficient to have caused his death, and insulin toxicity resulting in his death,” he said.
“The scattered tablets were, we allege, an attempt to make this look like a suicide when, in reality, what killed Mr Anderson was an overdose of insulin.
“Subsequent investigations of Mrs Polymiadis’ phone have revealed that, the day before her father was found, she had Googled the effects of oxazepam.”
Joseph Henderson, for Mrs Polymiadis, said his client was a suitable bail candidate as she was “family, work and faith-focused”, with no criminal history and strong community support.
Mr Foundas disputed that, alleging the suppressed evidence gave rise to legitimate concerns Mrs Polymiadis would interfere with the case if she were released on bail.
Magistrate Kym Millard said he might have considered bail if not for the suppressed evidence, which gave him “significant concerns”, and remanded her in custody until Thursday.
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