Background
Jo-Ann Graham killed her friend, Diedre Anne Folpp, by repeatedly stabbing her at Folpp’s Muswellbrook home between 28 and 30 October 2023. Graham had been homeless and was permitted to stay with Folpp. In the period before the killing, witnesses, police and support workers observed Graham displaying increasingly erratic, paranoid and disorganised behaviour.
Graham had used methamphetamine and other substances, but also had a history of psychotic symptoms extending beyond acute substance use. After her arrest, she was admitted to a secure psychiatric unit and treated with antipsychotic medication. The prosecution and defence jointly submitted that she was not criminally responsible because of mental health impairment.
The Court’s Holding
Lonergan J entered a special verdict under s 31 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW): “act proven but not criminally responsible” for Folpp’s murder. The Court was satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Graham had committed the acts causing Folpp’s death, but at the time suffered a mental health impairment and did not know that the acts were wrong.
The psychiatric evidence supported diagnoses of schizophrenia or late-onset schizophrenia disorder alongside substance-use disorder. Although one expert could not exclude drug-induced psychosis, the statutory exclusion did not apply because the impairment was not caused solely by substance use or intoxication. Graham was ordered detained in a correctional facility or another place determined by the Mental Health Review Tribunal. Related intimidation and property-damage charges were withdrawn.
Key Takeaways
- A special verdict may be entered where the parties agree and the Court is independently satisfied that mental health impairment is established.
- Substance use does not exclude the defence unless it solely caused the relevant impairment.
- The verdict does not result in release: Graham remains subject to detention and Mental Health Review Tribunal oversight.
Why It Matters
The decision applies the NSW statutory mental-health defence where serious psychosis and substance use coexist. It confirms that diagnostic uncertainty about the contribution of drugs will not defeat the defence if a qualifying mental health impairment was also operating at the time of the act.