R v Davidson [2026] NSWSC 958

R v Davidson [2026] NSWSC 958. Campbell J considered a joint application concerning Callan Davidson’s killing of his mother, Cheryl Anne Davidson, at Gunnedah. Although the parties agreed that the mental health impairment defence applied, the Court had to determine independently whether it was established on the balance of probabilities. Accepting unanimous psychiatric evidence, the Court found that active schizophrenia, paranoid delusions and command hallucinations prevented Davidson from appreciating the killing’s moral wrongness. It returned a special verdict of act proven but not criminally responsible, ordered his detention until release by due process of law, and referred him to the Mental Health Review Tribunal.