A MUM who drugged and killed her two sons said it was her “greatest act of love”, a court has heard.
The Supreme Court in Melbourne heard Donna Fitchett, 51, hatched a meticulous plan to kill Thomas, 11, and Matthew, 9.
The qualified nurse gave her sons a cocktail of drugs before strangling or smothering them at their North Balwyn home in September 2005.
Prosecutor Gavin Silbert, SC, said Ms Fitchett wanted out of her marriage.
She left husband David a note after killing the boys which said: “I am so sorry for your pain upon the discovery of what I have done.
“I can’t abandon the boys. I pray I don’t live through this.”
Mr Silbert said that on the day of the killings, Fitchett wrote to her psychologist, stating she had told her husband their marriage was over and to enjoy his outing with his sons on Father’s Day because it would be their last time together.
She confessed to killing the boys, adding she told them before drugging them they were going on a long boat trip and needed to take medicine so they wouldn’t get sick.
In the letter to her psychologist, Fitchett said she was not crazy and the killings were her “greatest act of love”.
Ms Fitchett has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
Defence lawyer Patrick Tehan, QC, said it was not in dispute that his client had killed her sons.
But he said Ms Fitchett was mentally impaired to the point where she didn’t know what she was doing was wrong.
“She believed that by killing her children she was doing the right thing,” Mr Tehan said.
The trial, before Justice Elizabeth Curtain, continues.
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