Melbourne woman murdered by teenage son in delusional plot to overthrow Australian government

A Melbourne mother suffered nearly 100 knife wounds in a horrific attack as part of two boys’ shared delusional belief they’d been instructed by God to take over the country.

Details of the “brutal and cold-blooded” attack were aired in the Victorian Supreme Court on Friday as Justice James Elliot said he would sentence the woman’s teenage son, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to 15 years’ imprisonment.

The court was told the boy, now 17, was experiencing a very rare case of induced delusional disorder, previously known as folie a deux, with a schoolmate who was mentally unwell.

Over months the two teenagers planned out forming a paramilitary group to take over the country and “kill communists”, attempting to recruit classmates to the cause.

In early 2023, the boys settled on a plan to steal a friend’s dad’s car and drive to Victoria’s Grampians region where they would gather an army and start an insurgency.

Various ideas involving stealing police cars, assaulting police officers and blowing up a bridge were discussed, although Justice Elliot said there was “no evidence of any meaningful planning”.

Over text messages and schoolyard conversations, they called themselves the “anti-communist front” and their plan “Operation Continuity”.

But the court was told the plan was thrown into disarray when the boys’ friend kept cancelling sleepovers.

At school on the last day of term, the boys told friends they had pivoted and would instead steal one of their mother’s cars, lying that she would be at a party that night.

After a dinner of spaghetti and desert of ice cream, the boy murdered his mother in her bedroom.

Justice Elliot said the boy’s younger brother overheard his mother screaming and yelling out “what are you doing? Stop, stop, you’re killing me”.

The younger brother fled to a local police station where he raised the alarm after spotting his mother covered in “red splotches”.

Shortly before midnight on April 5, 2023, police entered the boy’s mother’s Abbotsford home in inner-city Melbourne and found her critically injured on the floor of her blood-soaked bedroom.

When asked who did this, she said “my son” and she didn’t know why.

Despite efforts from paramedics, she died less than an hour later at the Royal Melbourne Hospital having suffered dozens of stab and slash wounds.

The two boys were arrested wearing camouflage clothing the following afternoon walking along a highway near Ballarat.

When asked why he’d killed his mother, the boy told police there were “a few very complicated reasons”.

Justice Elliot said these included the belief he was acting out God’s will and the belief that his mother could have thwarted their plan by reporting her car as stolen.

He said the boy’s induced delusional disorder played a “critical role” in the shocking murder, finding he was unlikely to be affected by the rare disorder again.

In a “novel” sentencing practice, Justice Elliot said he would sentence the boy to 15 years’ jail with a 10-year non-parole period next week after the Adult Parole Board had met to discuss where the boy would spend his time in custody.

Given the boy’s autism diagnosis and vulnerabilities, the judge expressed a view it would “clearly be in (the boy’s) interest” to remain in youth custody for as long as possible rather than be moved to an adult jail.

The sentence is expected to be imposed next Wednesday.