Muswellbrook killing: Judge delivers not criminally responsible verdict

A Newcastle Supreme Court judge has delivered a special verdict of ‘act proven but not criminally responsible’ in the 2023 killing of Deidre ‘Dee’ Folpp in Muswellbrook.

Jo-Ann Graham, 55, was found to have been living with schizophrenia at the time of the stabbing. The judge-alone trial focused on Graham’s mental health rather than the facts of the incident. Expert forensic psychiatrists agreed that Graham had a defense of mental health impairment, leading Justice Julia Lonergan to the special verdict.

The case revealed that Ms. Folpp, 60, had invited Graham to live in her Sydney Street unit after Graham had been experiencing homelessness and living under a bridge. During the proceedings, victim impact statements from Ms. Folpp’s family described the death as a ‘slow and horrifying’ experience resulting from a kind gesture.