Woman poisoned sister, brother-in-law, niece by lacing mushroom and bean dish, tart with anti-psychotic drug

A former receptionist poisoned her sister, brother-in-law and niece by spiking their food with an anti-psychotic drug — then returned to their Mosman Park home to cause them more harm. Details of the woman’s shocking crimes against her family emerged after the she successfully argued to have her sentenced reduced. The woman was jailed for nine years in May 2024 but lodged an appeal with two of the three Court of Appeal judges who assessed the application, cutting the term by six months. Court documents reveal that the 49-year-old, who suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia, had been working at the couple’s GP practice in 2020. But the couple had to fire her after a few months because she kept repeatedly asking patients the same questions. Despite this, they continued to pay her a salary. Five weeks later on January 16, 2021, the couple invited the woman and her then 10-year-old son to their Mosman Park home for dinner — with the woman making sushi, a mushroom and bean dish, and dessert tarts. She laced the mushroom and bean dish, which she served to her sister and brother-in-law, and one of the tarts, which she gave to her 10-year-old niece, with olanzapine — the drug prescribed to treat her conditions. She ate the sushi. Less than an hour later, the husband began to feel nauseous and tight in his chest, then her sister began to feel unwell. She collapsed multiple times in the night, including once while in the shower causing her to hit her head on the floor. The following day, the woman returned to her sister’s home knowing all three were ill and attacked her brother-in-law with a 2kg dumbbell multiple times to the head. Court documents show that he suffered a left orbital wall fracture, a laceration to his forehead, multiple scalp lacerations, severe concussion and an intercranial bleed. A struggled ensued between the pair, with the woman pulling out a bread knife, causing a cut to his forearm. In a bid to defend himself, the brother-in-law punched the woman and hit her with a ceramic doorstop. Meanwhile, the wife and her daughter fled the house and ran down the street calling for help. The woman ran after them with the dumbbell still in her hand. A cyclist heard the screams for help and intervened. All three family members were then taken to hospital, with the mother and daughter passing out in the ambulance. Blood tests showed that they all had high levels of olanzapine in their systems, with the parents recording almost 10 times the normal dose. The sentencing judge found the woman was motivated by “animus, jealousy, revenge, anger or being offended”, or a combination of all of them. The judge also found there was no causal link between the woman’s conditions and offending and that she was not suffering any cognitive impairment at the time but was rather “very capable of ordered thought and conduct and was fully aware of the intended consequences of her behaviour”.