Mentally ill man cleared of murder of mother on Sydney's northern beaches
A young man with chronic schizophrenia who stabbed his mother to death in her bedroom on Sydney's northern beaches has been found not guilty of murder on mental health grounds.
Joel Woszatka, 26, had pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness in the NSW Supreme Court to murdering 50-year-old Lanell Latta with a kitchen knife in their rented Avalon Beach home in mid-September 2017.
Justice Helen Wilson on Thursday accepted the defence, saying Woszatka "cannot be held criminally responsible" for her death.
It was clear he had been severely ill since at least 2015, including harbouring homicidal thoughts, she said.
"He acted as he did because of the illness he suffered and under the sway of the mental chaos it caused," the judge said.
Woszatka had not been taking his anti-psychotic medication after his family agreed to cease it in March 2017.
His trial heard Ms Latta had enforced a "tough-love campaign" on her son in the months leading up to her death, reminding him about counselling and urging him to get a job or else he would be kicked out of their home.
"In reality, he was simply too sick to do so," Justice Wilson said.
On the day of the incident, Woszatka admitted stabbing his mother, telling police: "She came into my room when I was having bad dreams. I lost control. I couldn't stop moving."
Woszatka was unable to sit through Justice Wilson's full judgment but at times waved to family in the gallery.
Outside court, Geoffrey Robson-Scott - Ms Latta's de facto partner who was present when she was stabbed - said she had been keen to see if her son "could progress" and "go forward into some sort of normal life".
"It didn't work and it cost her her life," he said.
Mr Robson-Scott says the court made the right decision and hopes Woszatka gets the institutional care he needs because "being taken into the mental health system is precisely the right thing to do".
AAP
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