Paragraph eleven reads: “Maria Christine Clark had a
history of suffering from mild depression and was taking
medication, the summary said.”
Daughter guilty of attempted murder
20/10/2009
10:02:00 PM
A BALLARAT woman has admitted to trying to kill her elderly
mother at a nursing home by stopping her from breathing.
Maria Christine
Clark, 51, yesterday pleaded guilty in Ballarat Magistrates Court to one count
of attempted murder.
Her 81-year-old mother, Agnes Caris, died at
Nazareth House on the evening of December 14 last year.
The charge
carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.
The prosecution
withdrew a charge of murder against Clark during yesterday’s brief court
hearing, which was set down for a three-day committal hearing.
A police
summary tendered to the court says Clark was alone with her mother in her room
when she tilted her head and pinched her wind pipe with her right thumb and
index finger until she stopped breathing.
Mrs Caris died at 11.10pm.
The next day, Clark confessed to a work colleague that she had taken her
mother‘s last breaths, the summary says.
Clark was then interviewed by
police where she recounted the incident.
The summary says Mrs Caris had
a stroke and lapsed into a coma just days before she died.
Family
members were told death was expected. She also suffered from cancer.
Clark had a history of suffering from mild depression and was taking
medication, the summary said.
Family surrounded Clark in court, however
a male left the court room abruptly moments before the case was called while a
female left crying during the hearing.
Clark sat silent in the front row
of the public gallery until Magistrate Richard Pithouse asked her for her plea,
to which she replied “guilty”.
Mr Pithouse extended Clark’s bail on
her own undertaking, which does not include reporting to police. She will face a
directions hearing in Melbourne on November 4.
