Killer’s mother found guilty

Invercargill woman Patricia Elizabeth Samson has been found guilty of attempting to defeat the course of justice. Yesterday, the jury in the High Court returned a unanimous verdict, and Samson, 53, will be sentenced on September 24. She had pleaded not guilty to attempting to defeat the course of justice at Invercargill on November 17, 2019. Her son Samuel Samson murdered his partner Azalia Wilson in an Invercargill motel room on November 17, 2019, and Patricia Samson went to the motel at 3am before driving him to where evidence was later found by police. At issue in the trial was whether she knew her son had killed Wilson, or that Wilson was dying, when she drove him to Fosbender Park. In summing up the case yesterday, Justice Gerald Nation said proof of wilful blindness would be proof of knowledge.