Overview
- Tara Crabtree’s prerecorded evidence, which the jury watched on Friday, described her mother crushing prescription pills and pouring several bottles of liquid oxycodone into a fruit smoothie for Jonathan.
- Tara said Jonathan moaned and gasped for air through the night after drinking it, and she said her mother told her not to help and to tell police he had taken his own life.
- Prosecutors outlined an alleged financial motive that included a planned claim of about $125,000 on superannuation and insurance, concerns about losing the family home, and stress over Jonathan’s alleged role in a pharmacy robbery.
- Tara also alleged an earlier attempt in January 2017 with a drugged milkshake and said she saw OxyNorm bottles emptied into a larger container and the tampered bottles returned to a chemist.
- Under cross-examination, the defence pressed Tara on why she told police in December 2019 and on deleted Facebook messages about the case, as Maree Crabtree maintains a not‑guilty plea and the trial continues next week.