Mother cleared of son’s murder: [2 All-round First Edition]
Stapleton, John. Weekend Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 19 Feb 2005: 5.
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Abstract
Shanghai-born Ms [Shan Shan Xu] came to Australia in the mid-1990s. She gave birth to [Stephen] in late 1998 after a brief liaison with a construction worker.
“There was no one else on the wharf. At the end of the ramp, she gathered Stephen in her arms and held him for some time. She then disappeared from the end of the wharf, still holding Stephen, as she stepped into the Parramatta River,” judge David Kirby said in his judgment.
Full Text
A WOMAN who drowned her four-year-old son was yesterday found not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness.
Shan Shan Xu, 35, drowned her son Stephen in 2003 after leaving a note for her mother that said they would not be returning home to their western Sydney unit.
“We are not coming back home. Please look after yourself. Just treat it as if we’d had an accident. I’ve really had enough,” the note read.
Ms Xu was pulled from the Parramatta River, holding her dead son, by crew and passengers of a ferry.
Shanghai-born Ms Xu came to Australia in the mid-1990s. She gave birth to Stephen in late 1998 after a brief liaison with a construction worker.
In late 2002, she began making suicide threats and in early 2003 she was admitted to an acute-psychiatric unit, the Caritas Centre.
On March 31, 2003, Ms Xu set out from Central railway station with her son and arrived at Meadowbank wharf about 2pm.
Closed-circuit television maintained by the Transport Authority showed she played in the park with Stephen until 6.41pm.
“There was no one else on the wharf. At the end of the ramp, she gathered Stephen in her arms and held him for some time. She then disappeared from the end of the wharf, still holding Stephen, as she stepped into the Parramatta River,” judge David Kirby said in his judgment.
Justice Kirby accepted the evidence of two forensic psychiatrists that Ms Xu was suffering a major depressive illness at the time.