Man who murdered his elderly mother with 15kg pot plant sentenced to 21 years jail
David Andrew Mapp, 59, killed hits 82-year-old mother Colleen Wilson when he threw a 15-kilogram pot plant at her inside her home at Tumbi Umbi on the New South Wales Central Coast in April 2022.
Mapp lived at nearby Watanobbi but had been staying with his mother because he was sick with COVID-19.
The jury in his trial last October reached a guilty verdict in less than a day.
In the NSW Supreme Court today, Mapp was sentenced to 21 years' jail with a non-parole period of 15 years.
A victim impact statement from Ms Wilson's sister Janice Fowler was read out in court detailing the difficult relationship that her sister shared with Mapp.
She described the relationship as being full of "harassment, begging, pleading, promises and lies".
The trial heard Mapp had a longstanding drug addiction and regularly argued with his mother, usually as a result of him asking for money.
In body cam police footage tendered in court, Mapp said he threw the pot plant in self defence, claiming his mother had threatened him with a kitchen knife.
A short time after the murder, Mapp was seen on surveillance footage entering a pawn shop in nearby Long Jetty where he sold Ms Wilson's television and whipper snipper for $200, which he used to buy drugs.
It was not until several hours later that Mapp called triple-0 to report a death.
"I'm at mums and we had a bad argument … things got pretty bad and we had an argument … fell down, and I tried to revive her," he said to the emergency operator.
He also told the operator he had been conducting CPR on his mother "all day, hoping she'd come to".
In handing down Mapp's sentence Justice Ian Harrison concluded that even though Ms Wilson's death was the result of an intentional act, it was an unintended consequence of what Mapp did.
"It is clear Mr Mapp lost his self-control as a result of the build-up of emotional toil associated with his longstanding anxiety," Justice Harrison said.
A report prepared by psychiatrist Yvonne Skinner stated Mapp's anxiety disorder was a result of suffering from institutionalised abuse in his early years and domestic violence perpetuated by his father.
Dr Skinner's opinion was that Mapp's actions were a culmination of mental health issues, stating that drug withdrawal during his bout of COVID-19 and continued arguing with his mother could be described as "the straw that broke the camel's back".
Justice Harrison accepted Dr Skinner's assessment that Mapp had "a very limited risk of reoffending".
Mapp will be eligible for parole in July 2037.
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