A man with chronic schizophrenia who stabbed his mother to death in her bedroom has been found not guilty of her murder on the grounds of mental illness.
Joel Woszatka ‘cannot be held criminally responsible’ for the death of 50-year-old Lanell Latta at their home in Sydney, Australia, in 2017, a judge ruled.
The 25-year-old – who said the killing happened during a bad dream – had been prescribed anti-psychotic medication since 2015 but had stopped taking it just a few months earlier.
During sentencing, Justice Helen Wilson said: ‘He acted as he did because of the illness he suffered and under the sway of the mental chaos it caused.’
His trial heard Ms Latta had enforced a ‘tough-love campaign’ on her son in the months leading up to her death, reminding him about counselling and threatening him to get a job or be kicked out of their home, the court heard. Read more