Natasha Darcy googled ‘how to commit murder’ in months before she allegedly murdered partner, court hears

A woman on trial for murder allegedly made dozens of shocking internet searches before blending sedatives in a Nutribullet and feeding it to her partner.

A woman searched “how to commit murder” five weeks before she used a Nutribullet to blend sedatives into a drink for her partner and gassed him to death in his bed, a jury has heard.

The phrase was among dozens Natasha Beth Darcy allegedly searched online in the months before sheep farmer Mathew John Dunbar died at his property on August 2, 2017, in the regional NSW town of Walcha.

Ms Darcy, who stood to inherit the $3.5m, 1200-acre property “Pandora”, is now on trial for Mr Dunbar’s murder.

She has pleaded not guilty to murder, contending Mr Dunbar’s death was a suicide and she assisted him to die.

Natasha Beth Darcy has pleaded not guilty to murder. Picture: Facebook

Her online searches began in February 2017 and initially veered towards flora and fauna, prosecutor Brett Hatfield told the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday.

In February she allegedly searched “body breakdown spider venom” and “poisonous fungi australia”.

Halfway through March, the searches took a turn towards the anatomical — “arteries in the body” — and the technological — “can police see websites you visit on your mobile”.

On April 18, Ms Darcy searched “how to commit suicide” and “food processor recipes”, Mr Hatfield said.

On June 25: “how to commit murder”.

Sheep farmer Mathew Dunbar died on August 2, 2017.

As the day of Mr Dunbar’s death drew closer, the search terms began to relate to specific drugs and ways to die, the court heard.

One of the links Ms Darcy allegedly clicked alerted her to helium gas.

The couple picked up a cylinder in Tamworth on August 1, 2017, Mr Hatfield said, Mr Dunbar telling the clerk it was for him.

After dinner that night, Mr Hatfield said, Ms Darcy mixed a drink containing a cocktail of sedatives for Mr Dunbar in a Magic Bullet blender.

The Crown alleges she poured it into a glass tumbler and gave it to Mr Dunbar, who drank it, went to bed and stayed there, sedated.

In the early hours of the morning, the Crown alleges, Ms Darcy placed a plastic bag over the grazier’s head and affixed it with a white elastic band.

She allegedly ran a laundry hose from the bag to a the cylinder of helium gas, and turned it on.

About 2am, Ms Darcy called triple-0, telling the operator she had found Mr Dunbar with the bag over his head.

Paramedics were unable to revive Mr Dunbar.

The blender cup and a glass tumbler, marked with a pinkish residue, were found in the dishwasher, the court heard, the fluid later testing positive for four sedatives.

Mr Hatfield said the jury would also hear about two 2009 incidents involving Ms Darcy’s now ex-partner, both of which occurred when he was sleeping.

In the first, she allegedly struck him on the temple, and in the second, set the bedroom on fire at about 4am as he slept.

The last thing the ex-partner remembered the night of the fire, Mr Hatfield said, was Ms Darcy serving him tacos as he watched the cricket. Drugs were later found in his urine and blood that he did not knowingly take.

These incidents prove Ms Darcy has a tendency to inflict serious harm on her domestic partner and sedate them for financial gain, Mr Hatfield said.

The court heard that Natasha Beth Darcy allegedly searched ‘murder by inducing heart attack’.

Ms Darcy’s barrister Janet Manuell SC told the jury after lunch: “I suspect you’ve listened to the Crown’s opening this morning and thought to yourselves, ‘Well, that seems like a pretty clear cut case’.”

“But that would be the wrong approach, because you haven’t heard any of the evidence yet.”

She told the 12 jurors they would likely conclude Ms Darcy had told a lot of lies to police — such as claiming she had no idea Mr Dunbar was planning suicide.

But, she said, those lies had to be viewed in the context of what Ms Darcy has since admitted to: aiding and abetting Mr Dunbar’s suicide.

If she had helped him search methods, if she had failed to alert professionals, Ms Manuell said, “Don’t you think she might have felt as though she had something to hide?”

“Maybe she lied to police because she thought police would never believe her.”

She urged the jurors to think about what was going on in Mr Dunbar’s life, asking: “Who was he?”

She offered up answers: a lonely man who had struggled with severe depression throughout his life, who was worried about his finances and an injury to his leg that threatened his farming future.

Mr Hatfield said there was “some evidence” Mr Dunbar had relationships with men; Ms Manuell described him as living “as a homosexual man” at times.

The defence barrister said Mr Dunbar was devastated by the suicide of a close friend, a gay man six years his junior, on April 11, 2017.

She said the jury might conclude the pair were “gentle, like-minded souls who had found each other” in the small community of Walcha.

This terrible event, she said, months before Mr Dunbar’s own death, was a “pivotal time”.

The trial continues.

Originally published as Natasha Darcy googled ‘how to commit murder’ in months before she allegedly murdered partner, court hears