Trial won’t proceed for ‘gravely ill’ doctor accused of murdering mother

A doctor accused of killing his elderly mother is a free man, after his trial was abandoned because he is too ill.

Doctor Stephen Edwards will no longer stand trial for murdering his elderly mother at Sandy Bay during 2016. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

THE murder trial of a former Hobart doctor accused of killing his elderly mother at Sandy Bay has been abandoned because he is “gravely ill”.

Stephen John Edwards, 65, was due to face a one-month trial from March 16 to fight an allegation he murdered Nelda Mavis Edwards, 88, in March 2016 by administering her with a drug.

The trial was delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions hampering the Supreme Court of Tasmania’s case lists, but on Thursday night Tasmania’s Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates announced the indictment had been dropped.

No details about Dr Edwards’ illness have yet been provided.

A charge of conspiring to obstruct the course of justice against Dr Edwards and his brother Robert David Edwards will also be dropped.

“In respect of both accused, this decision was not made on the basis of the available evidence but on public interest grounds,” Mr Coates said.

Mr Coates said the doctor’s lawyer informed his office last month that Dr Edwards was unwell.

He said a report from Dr Edwards’ treating specialist and general practitioner confirmed he would “have difficulty in giving instructions to his counsel, he would not be able to do justice as a witness and the trial itself may cause the accused’s condition to deteriorate”.

Mr Coates said he engaged an “eminent specialist” from a Sydney hospital to examine the doctor’s medical records and came to the same conclusion as his treating specialist.

“Given the nature of the illness, the prognosis, the fact that he is unlikely to be fit to stand trial in the future, it would be oppressive to continue with both the charges of murder and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice,” he said, adding he was satisfied Dr Edwards didn’t pose a risk of offending in the future.

Mr Coates said it was also not in the public interest to proceed with the conspiracy charge against Robert Edwards given there would not be a trial involving the alleged principal offender, and because a significant amount of time had passed since the alleged offending.

The Mercury previously reported that Dr Edwards was extradited from NSW after being arrested at his Woy Woy practice in 2016 and was met on the plane by airport security.

Prosecutors claimed Mrs Edwards died after being given medication and that Dr Edwards travelled to Hobart in the days before her death.

A death notice published in the Mercury at the time said Mrs Edwards “passed away peacefully”.

Her 90-year-old husband David had died a few days earlier and a son, Glendon, had died the month prior.