Man’s shocking alleged act after he bashed his own mum to death with a pot plant in Australia

A man accused of beating his elderly mother to death with a potted plant later pawned her belongings to buy heroin, a jury has been told.

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

He admits killing his mother with a potted plant, but will claim he did so in the throes of severe anxiety disorder and heroin withdrawal, without intending to kill her.

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

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

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

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

“Mr Mapp went out of the house, grabbed a potted plant that was outside the house, turned inside and assaulted the deceased on the back of the head with it,” Mr Young said.

‘The potted plant struck Mrs Wilson in the back of her head causing her to fall to the ground.’

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

His lawyer Sarah Talbert said Mapp had used heroin since he was 16 years old and relied on his mother for support, leaving her “angry, frustrated and fed up.”

“While David Mapp accepts that his deliberate act – that is, throwing the potted plant – caused the death of his mother, he does not accept that when he did that act, he did so with the intention of killing her,” said Ms Talbert.

She said he was suffering from heroin withdrawal symptoms and the trial was expected to provide expert psychiatric evidence showing Mapp had severe generalized anxiety disorder at the time of his mother’s death.

He admits killing his mother with a potted plant, but will claim he did so in the throes of severe anxiety disorder and heroin withdrawal, without intending to kill her. The house is pictured

That condition is said to have impaired his ability to control himself and make good judgments.

“It is the defense that in that context Mr Mapp threw the potted plant at his mother, hitting her on the head and causing her death,” Ms Talbert said.

Shortly after 5pm on the day of the death, Mapp called triple zero to report a body, saying he and his mother had a ‘bad argument’.

“Things went pretty bad and um, yeah,” he said during the call. “We had an argument, my mother and I, and she fell.”

Mapp told the operator that his mother had chased him around the house with a knife and that he had thrown the potted plant at her.

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

The process continues.

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