Melbourne mum guilty of killing sons

MELBOURNE - Melbourne woman Donna Fitchett has been found guilty of killing her two sons.

Ms Fitchett, 51, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Thomas, 11, and Matthew, nine, by drugging and then strangling or suffocating them before trying to kill herself at their Melbourne home in September 2005.

She admitted the killings but pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of mental impairment.

As the guilty of murder verdict was delivered in the Victorian Supreme Court, Fitchett, who was leaning against a prison guard, remained impassive with her head bowed.

A woman sitting near Fitchett's former husband David let out a cry of joy.

Later, Fitchett quietly whispered her name and date of birth when asked by the judge's associate.

She had been given a retrial, but the jury took about four hours to again find her guilty.

Fitchett was remanded to a date to be fixed for her pre-sentence hearing.

In his closing address last week, Crown prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC told the court Fitchett, of Balwyn North, planned her actions and clearly knew they were wrong.

He said that although Fitchett was suffering mild depression, she was not delusional when she killed her sons.

But defence barrister Patrick Tehan QC said Fitchett should not be convicted of murder because she was mentally impaired at the time of the killings.

Mr Tehan said his client had suffered moderate to severe depression for a long time and was unable to think rationally and appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions.

She was granted a retrial in June last year when the Victorian Court of Appeal quashed her convictions, saying the original trial judge failed to properly instruct the jury about the legal consequences for someone found not guilty due to mental impairment.

Her retrial heard David Fitchett returned home from work on the night of September 6, 2005 to find his two sons dead in their beds.

Fitchett had left a suicide note to her husband saying she "couldn't abandon our beautiful boys".

"I didn't do it because I'm angry with you. I forgive you for whatever hurt you caused me. You can't help it. I just couldn't abandon our beautiful boys," she wrote.

"I've been dead for a few days and I just wanted peace.

"I pray I do not live through this. I hope you find the strength to go on without us."

Mr Fitchett said she had told him in the days before the killings that she would leave him and didn't believe he could look after the boys, so was taking them with her.

Outside court, David Fitchett said that two juries had now made the right decision in two trials.

"Another 12 people saw through the absolutely shallow, shallow pathetic defence," he said.

"I know that she knew exactly what she was doing was wrong, absolutely no doubt about it.

"She is a manipulative, cunning, street smart woman and she knew all along what she was doing was wrong."

- AAP