NSW man David Mapp admits to killing mother, claims no intent due to anxiety and heroin withdrawal

CCTV captured David Mapp pawning a TV and hedge trimmer in the hours after his mother's death, receiving $200 in cash for the items. Photo / 123RF

A man who admited killing his mother with a pot plant will argue he did so in the grips of a severe anxiety disorder and heroin withdrawal without intending to murder her.

David Andrew Mapp is accused of murdering his 82-year-old mother Coleen Wilson at Tumbi Umbi on New South Wales’ Central Coast on July 28, 2022.

It will not be in dispute during a NSW Supreme Court trial that Mapp pawned his mother’s property to buy heroin after her death, a jury heard on Tuesday.

The 59-year-old claims he killed his mother unintentionally during a heated argument and made efforts to revive her after the attack, the court was told.

Crown prosecutor Carl Young said CCTV captured Mapp pawning a TV and hedge trimmer in the hours after Wilson’s death, receiving $200 in cash for the items.

Mapp allegedly argued with his mother at some point that morning before he killed her.

“Mr Mapp went outside the house, retrieved a pot plant which was outside the house, turned inside [and] assaulted the deceased with it to the back of the head,” Young said.

“As a result of the pot plant hitting Ms Wilson to the back of the head, she fell to the ground.”

Prosecutors also allege Mapp applied pressure to his mother’s neck while she was on the ground, which was disputed by the defence.

His barrister Sarah Talbert said Mapp had used heroin since he was 16 years old and relied on his mother for support, which caused her to become “angry, frustrated and fed-up”.

“Although David Mapp accepts that his deliberate act – that is, the throwing of the pot plant – caused his mother’s death, he does not accept that when he did that act, he did it intending to kill her,” Talbert said.

She said he was suffering heroin withdrawals and expert psychiatric evidence was expected to be given during the trial showing Mapp had a severe generalised anxiety disorder at the time of his mother’s death.

That condition would have affected his ability to control himself and make sound judgments.

“It’s the defence case that Mr Mapp, in that context, threw the potted plant at his mother and it hit her on the head and caused her death,” Talbert said.

Shortly after 5pm on the day of the death, Mapp called 000 to report a body, saying he and his mother had a “bad argument”.

“Things got pretty bad and, um, yeah,” he said during the call.

“We had an argument, myself and Mum and she – ah, well, fell down.”

Mapp told the operator his mother had been chasing him around the house with a knife and he had thrown the pot plant at her.

The 59-year-old also claimed he had been attempting CPR all day in the hopes of reviving his mother, Young said.

The trial continues.