‘No fruit’ in home of drug smoothie murder accused

A woman accused of murdering her son by hiding drugs in his smoothie was found to have no fresh fruit remnants in her home following a police search, a jury has heard.

Maree Mavis Crabtree, 59, has pleaded not guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court to the murder of her 26-year-old son Jonathan with an overdose of painkillers on July 19, 2017 in the family’s home north of the Gold Coast.

Jonathan’s sister Tara, who had been granted immunity from prosecution, would testify her mother hid a lethal amount of painkillers in a fruit smoothie while she kept watch, crown prosecutor Caroline Marco told the jury.

The jury on Wednesday heard testimony from Queensland Police Sergeant Michael Simmonds who led a search of the Crabtree family home on July 19, 2017.

Defence barrister Angus Edwards asked Simmonds if officers had conducted a thorough search of the house including its kitchen and fridge and had taken hundreds of photographs.

“Yes,” Simmonds said.

“Nowhere in that fridge was there leftover fruit?” Edwards said.

“Correct,” Simmonds said.

The jury heard the only fruit found was whole apples and bananas.

“All the bins were emptied. There were no fruit bits or pineapple or watermelon rinds found?” Edwards said.

“True,” Simmonds said.

Crabtree has also been accused of attempting to murder her son in January of the same year and dishonestly making a $125,000 insurance claim after his death.

She also pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and fraud charges when her trial began on Tuesday.

Paramedics found her son dead lying on his bed at 9.55am.

Jonathan’s death was caused by an excessive level of the prescription painkiller oxycodone in his bloodstream, an autopsy found.

Simmonds testified that police found an empty bottle of the liquid form of the oxycodone in bushland just across a boundary fence at the back of the Crabtrees’ home.

Jonathan’s bedroom had a door to his backyard and the boundary fence beyond, the jury heard.

Police also found two other empty bottles of oxycodone in the house, including in the ensuite bathroom attached to Tara’s bedroom.

Marco asked Simmonds if police were specifically looking for fruit peel, rinds and pits in their search.

“No,” Simmonds said.

Crabtree had turned to murder as she found her living situation with her son “no longer tolerable” but she did not have the money to buy out his stake of the house, Marco earlier told the jury.

Jonathan could have given himself an accidental or deliberate overdose while living in a house where people were taking multiple kinds of drugs, Edwards had said in his opening statement.

The trial is due to run for five weeks before Justice Martin Burns.

AAP