Prosecutors say Australian woman killed husband after he refused assisted suicide

A woman in Brisbane, Australia, has been accused of murdering her husband because he chose to delay seeking assisted suicide.

Prosecutors say Kylie Ellina Truswell-Mobbs, 50, killed 56-year-old David Ronald Mobbs in December 2023. Mobbs reportedly suffered from an “aggressive and degenerative” motor neuron disease.

Crown prosecutor Sarah Dennis said Truswell-Mobbs tried three different times to administer a lethal combination of drugs to Mobbs via his feeding tube before she was finally successful. “Her conduct was purposeful and determined. It continued over a number of hours through the night … her intent was protracted,” Dennis said.

Truswell-Mobbs allegedly killed her husband after he indicated in a palliative care meeting that he was not yet ready to seek assisted suicide.

“[Mobbs] indicated in the presence of a number of people that he wished to go on or at least have a further week before he considered his end-of-life options,” Dennis said. “Despite that, within hours, [Truswell-Mobbs] had commenced to administer drugs in order to bring about the end of his life.”

READ: Family members recount traumatizing assisted suicide deaths of loved ones

After the incident, a police statement indicated that Truswell-Mobbs had said she “couldn’t take it anymore.” She also reportedly admitted to authorities that she had administered the lethal concoction, but insisted that Mobbs had wanted to die.

The lawyer defending Truswell-Mobbs, Ruth O’Gorman, has argued that a murder charge is “not inevitable.”

“It’s not inevitable that the Crown would proceed with the charge of murder against her, or that the jury would convict,” O’Gorman said. “There are other charges which are or may be open on the evidence; (such as) a charge of aiding suicide.”

Brisbane is in Queensland, where Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) — assisted suicide — is legal. Though Truswell-Mobbs is being charged with murder, this is not the first time a caregiver has killed a sick person under the guise that the person ‘wished to die’ — an angle Truswell-Mobbs’ defense team appears it may take.

Truswell-Mobbs was denied bail and she was remanded into custody.