No parole date for woman who killed her mother

A CAIRNS judge has refused to set a parole date for a woman who caused the death of her elderly mother at a remote Far North property in the midst of a psychotic episode.

Maree Anne Blackwell, 49, was a diagnosed schizophrenic off her medication and selfmedicating with cannabis when her 71-year-old mother Lesley died at her hands at their 17ha property in an area between Cooktown and Hope Vale in early 2017.

Yesterday, in the Cairns Supreme Court, she was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to manslaughter with Justice

Jim Henry leaving her release date up to the parole board.

“You took your mother’s life,” he said.

“The finality of that carries a gravity for her that cannot be stated or understated.

“There is no sentence the court can impose to quantify the value or worth of your mother’s life.”

Devastated family spoke out during the first day of the sentence on Monday about the beloved mother and grandmother who cared for injured wildlife at the property.

Justice Henry told the court it was likely Maree Blackwell had been in a “psychotic state” for several months leading up to the attack, including one incident prior where she produced a gun and pointed it at her brother when he tried to get her off drugs.

He said the exact circumstances of Lesley Blackwell’s death were unknown as no one else was there at the time but there was an inference it was a “sustained and violent attack”.

Her body was found with a serious head wound along with multiple bruises caused by “blunt force trauma” to various parts of her body, with a disassembled and damaged shotgun and some clumps of hair found nearby.

Parole Board Queensland will now be responsible for deciding her release from custody.