Mum allegedly murdered son with lethal fruit smoothie

A Gold Coast mother allegedly murdered her son by poisoning him with a fruit smoothie laced with oxycodone before attempting to collect on his life insurance, a court has heard.

Maree Crabtree and Jonathan Crabtree

A Gold Coast mother allegedly murdered her son by poisoning him with a lethal fruit smoothie laced with oxycodone before attempting to collect on his life insurance, a court has heard.

The Crown has alleged Maree Mavis Crabtree murdered her adult son Jonathan in 2017 after he robbed a pharmacy, telling her daughter Tara he had to be killed because his criminal offending had placed the family finances and home in jeopardy.

But her defence barrister Angus Edwards KC said the case would hinge on whether the jury believed Tara Crabtree was an honest and reliable witness.

He asked a jury to consider why she came forward with the allegations against her mother more than two years after her brother’s death and whether her motivations were pure or “something more sinister”.

Maree Crabtree

Crabtree, 57, pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and aggravated fraud on the first day of her trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.

“The crown contends that the demise of Jonathan not only presented to the defendant a removal of risk of losing the home …, not only removed a son that was violent and a burden, but also provided a large financial windfall through these insurance claims,” Crown Prosecutor Philip McCarthy KC said.

“And these all form a constellation of features that the Crown says did in fact motivate Maree Crabtree to kill her son.”

The court heard Jonathan had likely been dead for hours when paramedics called to the family’s Maudsland home on July 19, 2017 found his body draped across his bed.

“The pathologist examining Jonathan’s body reported that there was an excessive amount of the drug oxycodone in Jonathan’s bloodstream and that, this in combination with other drugs, caused his death,” Mr McCarthy said in his opening address.

“The Crown will endeavour to prove before you that his mother, the defendant, deliberately administered the drink to her son containing oxycodone to kill him.”

Mr McCarthy said Tara would tell the jury that she helped her mother by acting as a lookout while she prepared the lethal smoothie.

Jonathan Crabtree

He said the jury would hear Crabtree allegedly loaded the drink with mango, pineapple and watermelon in a bid to mask the scent of the OxyNorm tablets she is accused of pouring into the blender.

“Tara will tell us that Jonathan came down to the family kitchen, drank what had been prepared and returned to his room,” Mr McCarthy said.

“His sister Tara will tell us from her room she could hear her brother struggling and coughing into the night.”

Mr McCarthy said Tara, who has been given immunity from prosecution, would likely give evidence that the following morning, her mother told her not to go into her brother’s room and that he was dead.

He said the jury would hear the mother and daughter went for a walk and ran errands including visiting Woolworths while Jonathan lay dead in his bed, and it was alleged while they were out, Crabtree had taken $840 cash from her son’s bank account.

“It is only after this shopping expedition that they return home and the defendant contacts the ambulance service,” Mr McCarthy said.

“Tara will inform us that the delay was designed … to avoid suspicion, to make sure nothing was suspicious.

“Tara will tell us she was told by her mother not to tell police anything or that Tara would lose everything, including her home and more importantly to Tara, her pets.”

A court drawing of Maree Crabtree.

Mr McCarthy said it was alleged that Crabtree had previously attempted to murder her son by lacing a milkshake with drugs, but that an ambulance was called and he recovered on that occasion.

He said the jury would hear Jonathan was “no saint” and had been a “troubled young man” with a history of drug abuse and who required significant physical care after a traffic crash in 2015.

“Tara will tell us that her mother believed that Jonathan’s involvement in an armed robbery of a chemist had placed their family finances in jeopardy, in particular their family home,” Mr McCarthy said.

“You’ll hear from Tara that that was the express reason to her that Jonathan had to be killed, his life had to be ended.”

Mr McCarthy said it was alleged Crabtree believed the robbery victims would sue Jonathan who owned half of the home that he, his sister and mother lived in.

The court heard in the wake of Jonathan’s death, his mother allegedly tried to claim on his life insurance but it was not paid to her.

Maree Crabtree and Jonathan Crabtree

“And the Crown contend the defendant’s claim was an attempt to defraud the insurer, that is she would know and did know that she was not permitted to do so when she was responsible for killing her son,” Mr McCarthy said.

“You can’t make a claim on a death policy if you have been the person to kill them.”

Defence barrister Mr Edwards said there were limited possibilities surrounding how Jonathan ingested the lethal amount of Oxycodone.

He asked the jury to consider whether Tara Crabtree had been “honest and consistent” in her account, whether she had “flat out lied” to police, if she had hidden or destroyed evidence in the case, and to scrutinise the two-and-a-half-year delay in her reporting the allegations.

Mr Edwards also urged the jury to listen closely to the evidence about Jonathan’s mental state around the time of his death and the potential for him to have deliberately or accidentally overdosed.

“Was he a man who was mentally stable or was he depressed and suicidal,” Mr Edwards said.

“What does the evidence tell us about his own deliberate drug use in the past? Was he a person who never took drugs or a person who was addicted to drugs and would take anything he could get his hands on? Had he ever deliberately and of his own volition taken the very drug that killed him?

“What does the evidence in this trial tell us about the likelihood … of the possibility Jonathan Crabtree deliberately took the drugs that killed him.”

The trial continues before Justice Peter Davis.