REX MARTINICH/ AAP
A WOMAN who provided fatal drugs to her dying husband out of compassion and love as his “devoted carer” has walked from court after a murder charge was dropped.
Kylie Ellina Truswell-Mobbs faced a possible lengthy jail term after she gave her terminally ill husband a lethal cocktail of drugs.
Instead, on Monday, she walked out of court to the sound of cheers.
Truswell-Mobbs, 52, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to assisting suicide in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.
Prosecutors accepted the guilty plea over the death of former firefighter David Ronald Mobbs, 56, at the couple’s Alexandra Hills home in December 2023.
Mr Mobbs was suffering an aggressive form of motor neurone disease.
Justice Tom Sullivan sentenced Truswell-Mobbs to a suspended jail term after accepting she had acted out of love and a sense of compassion.
As she left court, Truswell-Mobbs was cheered and hugged by family and supporters.
She said she was happy the court ordeal was over.
“It feels good,” Truswell-Mobbs said. “(David) was beautiful. He will never be forgotten about.”
Truswell-Mobbs earlier cried and sobbed in the dock after crown prosecutor Caroline Marco accepted her guilty plea to the lesser offence and Justice Sullivan dismissed the murder charge.
“It was exceptionally difficult circumstances in which she found herself,” Ms Marco said.
A similar past case in Victoria had resulted in a suspended sentence of five years’ imprisonment, Justice Sullivan heard.
“The gravity involved in the offence lies in the protection of the sanctity of life,” Ms Marco said.
“Truswell-Mobbs’ moral culpability falls toward the lower end of the spectrum … her actions arose from compassion for a terminally ill loved one.”
The couple had been in a relationship for 20 years and raised two sons.