Court: Lisa Cummings strangled and stabbed Mark Myers but not criminally responsible
A court has ruled that a woman who confessed to killing a man and hiding his body in a surfboard bag is not criminally responsible.
“I did it, I killed him,” – Lisa Marie Cummings’ confession to police came less than 24 hours after the body of 62-year-old Mark Myers, was discovered stuffed inside a surfboard bag on a remote rural driveway near Bellingen on August 23 last year.
On Thursday, Justice Peter Fagan was tasked with a special hearing for 36-year old Lisa Marie Cummings who was charged with murder. The court heard the S31 hearing allowed for a finding of “act proven but not criminally responsible” because both the defence and prosecution agreed Cummings’ had an established mental health diagnosis.
Appearing via video link from Austinmer Forensic Hospital, Cummings had pleaded not guilty, relying on a defence of mental health impairment after being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2019.
Documents before the court heard Cummings’ mental state at the time of the killing included paranoid delusions of persecution and a disturbing belief that the television was sending her references and messages.
The agreed facts before the court revealed Cummings was experiencing auditory hallucinations on the day before and the day of the killing on August 22, 2024, with a voice repeatedly telling her “if you don’t kill him you’ll be killed.”
Justice Fagan read from the agreed facts that the voice instructed Cummings to take an extension cord and strangle Mr Myers at a Loftus Street property in Nambucca Heads, which she did before also stabbing him and wrapping his body in a surfboard cover.
She then loaded the corpse into her car and drove towards Darkwood in the Thora Valley, stopping at Nambucca where servo staff described her as erratic and drug-affected.
“Understanding her state of mind is a critical issue in how the case is now presenting,” Justice Fagan told the court.
Defence barrister Jason Watts tendered a five-page agreed statement of facts and a psychiatrist’s report.
Crown Prosecutor Susan Oliver presented psychiatric evidence and four victim impact statements from Myers’ grieving family members Anna Holmes, Stacey Myers, Nikita Holmes.
The psychiatrist’s reports, dated September 2025, detailed the psychotic symptoms and auditory hallucinations that had consumed Cummings.
Family members Crystal Holmes told Cummings “I hope you get the help you need”, while Nikita Holmes expressed “no sense of justice”.
What was scheduled as a two-day judge-alone hearing concluded swiftly when Justice Fagan delivered his verdict early on Thursday afternoon at a Supreme Court hearing in Coffs Harbour.
Family members Crystal Holmes told Cummings “I hope you get the help you need”, while Nikita Holmes expressed “no sense of justice”.
What was scheduled as a two-day judge-alone hearing concluded swiftly when Justice Fagan delivered his verdict early on Thursday afternoon at a Supreme Court hearing in Coffs Harbour.
Cummings will remain detained under mental health orders.
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Originally published as Court: Lisa Cummings strangled and stabbed Mark Myers but not criminally responsible
