Mental health impairment finding over caravan park stabbing

THE NSW Supreme Court has found Gunnedah man Callan Davidson not criminally responsible for the death of his mother by reason of mental health impairment.

In his decision, Justice Stephen Campbell returned a special verdict of act proven but not criminally responsible.

Both the prosecution and defence agreed the evidence established a defence of mental health impairment.

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Davidson, who had recounted the events to forensic psychiatrist Dr Jeremy O’Dea, admitted killing his mother Cheryl Davidson at a Gunnedah caravan park on the morning of 25 October 2024.

Davidson told the psychiatrist he believed the Freemasons had contacted him and sent him warning signs and “pictures of death”.

Mrs Davidson had gone to the caravan park on the day she was killed to assist her son to relocate. An entry from her diary, reproduced in the judgement, said she had finally convinced her son to seek mental health support. Mrs Davidson had secured a mental health appointment for 2pm that day.

“Only one day before it happened, I figured out what I think they wanted me to do … [that is] kill my Mum,” Davidson told the forensic psychiatrist Dr O’Dea.

One caravan park guest heard a woman screaming, while two other guests approached the tent and alerted police.

Upon arriving at the scene, police initially thought Davidson may have harmed himself. Senior Constable Mifsud then saw a knife in Davidson’s bag and arrested him, before Constable Cooke approached the tent and found Mrs Davidson. Constable Cooke retrieved medical supplies and attempted to perform CPR.

Paramedics arrived minutes later and also attempted to treat Mrs Davidson. Given the extent of the wounds, attempts were ultimately abandoned.

A post-mortem examination identified 106 sharp force injuries, including injuries to the neck, heart and liver.

In his judgement, Justice Campbell accepted evidence from two forensic psychiatrists that Davidson’s schizophrenia meant he did not know killing his mother was morally wrong.

“It is clear that his schizophrenia went undiagnosed for many years. As I have pointed out in my treatment of the facts, and as Dr O’Dea says, he probably exhibited relevant symptoms in 2022 when he attended the emergency department at Gunnedah Hospital,” Justice Campbell said.

“The symptoms his mother recounted to the local health authority in September 2024, viewed through the prism of the expert reports, certainly had all the hallmarks of the deranged thinking symptomatic of schizophrenia.”

Justice Campbell ordered that Davidson be “detained in a correctional facility, or at such other place as may be determined from time to time by the Mental Health Review Tribunal, until released by due process of law”.

He also referred Davidson to the Mental Health Review Tribunal.