Maree Mavis Crabtree sentenced for fraud after murder acquittal

Maree Mavis Crabtree, 59, has been sentenced for fraud following a nine-year legal saga. Crabtree was previously cleared of the murder and attempted murder of her son, Jonathan, in 2017, an incident involving a smoothie allegedly laced with prescription painkillers. A charge regarding the 2012 death of her daughter, Erin, was also dropped earlier this year.

In court, Crabtree pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception by continuing to receive carer payments for her daughter, Tara, despite not living together. She also admitted to defrauding a disability organisation of at least $30,000 by failing to declare she had moved interstate while receiving assistance payments.