A 12-year-old girl accused of stabbing a woman to death in Melbourne’s west will no longer be charged with murder.
Prosecutors filed a request Thursday in a juvenile court to drop charges against the girl, but did not provide a reason why.
The magistrate withdrew and dropped the murder charge.
She faces no other offenses after police also dropped charges in two more separate cases.
The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, did not appear in court in person or via video link on Thursday.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the murder charge was dropped after careful consideration and advice from the director of public prosecutions.
A 12-year-old accused of fatally stabbing a woman in a Footscray apartment will no longer face charges
“It was the director’s position that there were no reasonable prospects of conviction in this case because the prosecution would not have been able to rebut the presumption of doli incapax,” the statement said.
Doli incapax is the presumption that a child under the age of 13 is incapable of understanding the wrongfulness of his actions and therefore cannot be convicted of a crime.
The 12-year-old girl was evaluated by a psychiatrist for doli incapax.
She was accused of fatally stabbing a 37-year-old woman at a Footscray apartment on November 16, 2023.
The court was told detectives arrived and found blood all over the kitchen floor and bathroom of the apartment, while the girl and two neighbors waited in the hallway.
The neighbors had called triple zero after being woken by a noise around 1.30am and finding the 12-year-old crying in the hallway.
The girl told one of the neighbors that the woman had committed suicide and that she had tried to drag her into the shower.
The neighbors entered the apartment and found the woman’s lifeless body on the bathroom floor, naked and covered in stab wounds.
A knife was found in the victim’s hand, with a pair of bloodied white sneakers next to the body.
The shoes and knife, along with artificial nails, condoms, deodorant cans and clothing, were seized by police.
Neighbors found the woman’s body on the bathroom floor of the apartment, naked and covered in stab wounds. (Diego Fedele/AAP PHOTOS)
Prosecutors asked a magistrate for permission to take DNA from the girl so it could be compared to the fingernails and shoes.
The magistrate identified issues surrounding the child’s mental capacity to consent to providing DNA because of her intellectual disability and because she is estimated to have the maturity of someone half her age.
Prosecutors dropped the DNA request Thursday, along with the murder charge.
Victoria Police confirmed the 37-year-old woman’s death had been referred to the coroner.
“The victim’s family has been informed and we will continue to support them throughout this process,” the spokeswoman said.
“Our thoughts are with them today.”
More to come