Mother tries to murder her severely disabled adult son by drowning him in a harbour - but the man is miraculously found on rocks the next day

  • An Auckland mother was found guilty of attempting to drown her disabled son 
  • She tried to kill him in Manukau Harbour, before he was found at Settler's Cove 
  • Her son is intellectually disabled, schizophrenic, autistic and non-verbal
  • Witnesses noted strange behaviour from the mother before the incident

A New Zealand mother has been found guilty of attempting to murder her disabled son by drowning him in a harbour.

The Auckland woman, who can't be named for legal reasons, intended to kill her son in the water at Manukau Harbour on May 13, 2018.

Her son is intellectually disabled, and suffers from schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, Tourette syndrome and is non-verbal.

He was miraculously found the next day on rocks at the end of Settler's Cove beach in Weymouth.

The Auckland woman, who can't be named for legal reasons, intended to kill her son in the water at Manukau Harbour in May 2018

The Auckland woman, who can't be named for legal reasons, intended to kill her son in the water at Manukau Harbour in May 2018

The mother had not slept for two days before the murder attempt, with multiple witnesses telling Auckland High Court they noticed strange behaviour from her before the incident.

Stuff reported that witnesses had seen her speaking into an invisible walky-talky, she claimed there had been an apocalypse, and had met with Vladimir Putin.

She claimed her son had been sexually abused in a care facility and blamed herself for what had happened.

The court heard an interview with Detective Adam Tucker where the mother confessed to the drowning and demonstrated how she did it.

She had also told an ex-partner about the crime. 

The mother was found guilty in Auckland High Court

The mother was found guilty in Auckland High Court

Her lawyers Jonathon Hudson and Paul Borich claimed the mother may have been experiencing automatism, and would not have been able to form intent in her state.

Psychiatrist Dr Mhairi Duff examined the mother and said someone who held someone underwater to drown them would have intent and could not claim automatism.

The mother will be sentenced in February.