Maree Mavis Crabtree accused of murdering son as key witness’ credibility questioned

A key witness in the case against a mother charged with murdering her son has again had her credibility questioned by a judge.

Maree Mavis Crabtree at Brisbane Supreme Court in July 2024. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

A key witness in the case against a mother charged with murdering her son has again had her credibility questioned by a judge during an at times tense review of the case that sought special conditions for her cross-examination.

Gold Coast mother Maree Mavis Crabtree is accused of murdering her son Jonathan in 2017.

Crabtree’s retrial for the alleged murder, to which she previously pleaded not guilty, is now expected next year.

The Crown accused Crabtree of giving Jonathan, 26, a fruit juice laced with a fatal dose of prescription medication in 2017 before allegedly claiming thousands of dollars from his life insurance payout afterwards.

A pretrial hearing on Monday will see Crabtree’s other child Tara cross-examined by the defence about alternative explanations for how the blender - supposedly used to make the lethal smoothie - might have become drug tainted.

Tara’s evidence is crucial to the allegation that Crabtree placed medications in a blender smoothie.

Maree Mavis Crabtree leaves Supreme Court in 2024. Picture: Liam Kidston

Ahead of the pre-trial Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Caroline Marco applied to have Tara declared a special witness with a number of conditions that drew criticism from Justice Peter Davis.

Some of the conditions included that during cross examination by gun barrister Angus Edwards, KC, Tara, who has impairments, be questioned on one event or one topic at a time, be spoken to in simple language and questions be posed at a moderate pace.

Justice Davis said these were the type of issues a trial judge would supervise during a proceeding.

“If a double barrel question is asked, it’s objectionable, and I would say, break it up,” he said.

“I am very, very, very loathed to make an order now which effectively prescribes very tightly, I might add, how counsel approach the cross examination of this witness. I think that’s an extraordinary step to have to take.”

Justice David said without Tara the Crown most likely didn’t have a case and it was Mr Edwards job to discredit her.

“She’s the witness, she is it. Now, in those circumstances, counsel has to be fair to her but counsel’s job is to destroy her evidence, if he can,” he said.

“I’m sorry all these sections are great, but that is his job. His job is to discredit her.

”And here we are putting all these restrictions around counsel.

“I wouldn’t want to be restricted in how I cross examined her in a murder trial where my client was charged with murder and she’s the lead witness. It is an extraordinarily serious step to take.”

Justice Davis said he “didn’t know what was going on in the District Court” which utilises the scheme the Crown used to underpin the special witness application.

He also questioned whether Tara’s psychological condition would affect her credit.

“ The fact that she during the committal proceedings apparently caused some evidence to be destroyed is that reflective of her (disorders)?” he asked.

Ms Marco said she didn’t see that her conditions affected her reliability but might explain her conduct and lack of empathy.

Justice Davis approved the special witness application however declined to impose some of the conditions it set out.

Crabtree’s first trial for the alleged murder of Jonathan, to which she pleaded not guilty, was aborted after a successful mistrial application several days after it began in February last year.

The trial was abandoned after new information emerged and Justice Davis raised what he said were serious concerns about Tara who was a witness.

Originally published as Maree Mavis Crabtree accused of murdering son as key witness’ credibility questioned