Heroin addict who killed mother with pot plant learns fate

A heroin addict who killed his mother by bludgeoning her with a pot plant has learnt he will spend years in jail for her murder.

A heroin addict who killed his elderly mother by throwing a pot plant at her head before leaving her lifeless body inside her Central Coast home so he could pawn her TV for drug money has been jailed for a maximum of 21 years.

David Andrew Mapp was on Thursday sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court after he murdered his mother Colleen Wilson, 82, on July 28, 2022.

Ms Wilson had been dead for hours before Mapp, 59, called triple-0 at about 5.15pm, with police finding her body in a pool of blood and covered by a blanket, which he had placed on her.

During the call to triple-0, Mapp told the operator that he had a “big argument”, “things got pretty bad” and she “fell down and I tried to revive her”.

“I, um, threw the pot plant at her and, ah, there was no response after that,” Mapp said

David Andrew Mapp speaks to police in his mother's home after he killed her with a pot plant. Picture: Supplied.

Mapp offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

However, that was rejected by the Crown prosecution and the jury ultimately found him guilty of murder after he threw a 15kg pot plant at her head.

The blow caused a 40mm laceration and bleeding on the surface of her brain that led to her death.

She also suffered a fractured right collarbone in the fall.

Mapp had claimed to the triple-0 operator that he had “been waiting all day … trying to revive her”; however, he was contradicted by CCTV that showed Mapp arriving at the Long Jetty Pawnbrokers at 9.36am.

He was seen on CCTV selling a Homelite whipper snipper and 55-inch Hisense TV that he had taken from his mother’s home.

The store clerk took his identification and details, filled out the paperwork before handing over four $50 notes, which Mapp used to buy heroin.

“At some stage during the day, Mr Mapp purchased and used heroin. He left the used syringe in the centre console of his mother’s car,” Justice Ian Harrison said in his sentencing remarks.

The court was told on Friday that Mapp had in the weeks prior stolen his mother’s TV, and she was forced to go to the pawn shop to buy it back, but refused to call police on her son.

On the day of the murder, Mapp called a drug buddy and told him that he had a “raging habit” that was “coming to a screaming halt” because of a lack of money.

When police arrived at his mother’s home, bodyworn footage captured him telling officers that he was previously on methadone but had stopped about a month prior.

He said that he “came in and she had her back to me at the table … doing, sweeping the floorboards … and she came at me again with the knife”.

He then claimed that he “protected” himself and “she just kept trying to plunge, lunge at me with the knife”.

“Uh, I guess when I threw the plant, I guess. She hit her head on the way down,” he said before backtracking on the claim moments later.

Mapp (right) killed his mother before hocking her household goods at a pawn store for $200. Picture: Supplied

He then said he “sort of lunged at her with the plant” before moments later claiming “I didn’t lunge”.

He then changed his story once again when he told police: “Well … before she could turn around and pick the knife up … Um, and I just, I didn’t know how hard I was throwing it.”

Justice Harrison said Mapp killed his mother when an argument “got out of hand” and when “his frustration could no longer be controlled”.

He said Mapp and his mother had similar arguments in the past without resorting to violence.

“I am not satisfied that Mr Mapp intended to kill his mother,” Justice Harrison said.

The court was told that Mapp was suffering from anxiety, drug withdrawals and the effects of Covid-19 at the time of the attack.

“Even though Ms Wilson’s death was the result of an intentional act committed by Mr Mapp, I am satisfied that her death was the tragic and unintended consequence of what he did,” Justice Harrison said.

“It is clear that Mr Mapp lost his self-control as a result of the build up of emotional turmoil associated largely with his longstanding anxiety.”

Justice Harrison sentenced Mapp to a maximum of 21 years in prison.

He will be eligible for release on parole in July 2037 after serving 15 years.

Originally published as Heroin addict who killed mother with pot plant learns fate