‘Lookout’ daughter says mum gave brother fatal smoothie
A mother asked her daughter to “watch” as she crushed a lethal dose of drugs and put it in her sister’s drink, a jury has heard.
Maree Mavis Crabtree is accused of killing her 26-year-old son Jonathan with a painkiller overdose at her family’s north Gold Coast home on July 19, 2017, and then submitting a $125,000 insurance claim.
The 59-year-old man is also accused of attempting to murder his son in January of the same year.
Crabtree pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and fraud charges when his trial began in the Brisbane Supreme Court last week.
The jury on Friday began watching nearly five hours of pre-recorded video evidence from the defendant’s daughter, Tara Crabtree, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tara said that when Jonathan died, she was a year younger than Jonathan and was living with him and Crabtree.
The jury heard Tara claim Jonathan crushed Crabtree’s prescription painkiller and anti-anxiety tablets while he was unconscious in bed.
“He cut up the fruit and put it in the blender to blend… watermelon, I’m sure mango and pineapple are the main ones I remember,” said Tara, who has immunity from prosecution.
Crabtree crushed the tablets with a hammer on a cutting board on the kitchen counter and added the powder to a fruit smoothie along with six bottles of the liquid oxycodone opiate painkiller, Tara said.
“He asked me to keep an eye on my brother. He went out and he gave it to him,” she said.
Crabtree sat on the dock Friday and stared at the TV screen next to her feet as her daughter’s testimony was played.
The jury had previously heard that Jonathan’s behavior was severely affected by injuries he sustained in a car crash.
Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco asked Tara why Crabtree had put drugs in Jonathan’s drink.
“He was violent, a terrible person to live with…we would have had more peace and lived a better life without him, that’s what he said,” Tara said.
The jury had previously heard that Jonathan co-owned the family home and could not be evicted.
Tara said she heard Jonathan struggling and making noises after returning to his room with the smoothie, but Crabtree told him not to intervene.
She testified that Crabtree feared he would be arrested and “lose everything” and that Tara would have to live in a group home if Jonathan survived.
The jury also heard Tara claim Crabtree was concerned about the financial impact of Jonathan being sued by a man he allegedly threatened during a pharmacy robbery.
Tara said she was “in shock” after Jonathan died, and Crabtree told her not to say anything if the police came.
“He committed suicide, he told me not to say that,” Tara said.
The jury will watch video of Crabtree’s defense attorney Angus Edwards cross-examining Tara about her allegations.
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