‘Just Say Goodbye’ (January 2013 online edition)

‘Just Say Goodbye’the incident, said she was irrational, distraught and crying, and saying that hermarriage was over. She made a number of ‘bizarre’ and ‘irrational’ statements. 128Professor Mullen, Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at MonashUniversity, and Dr Sullivan, Assistant Clinical Director at the Victorian Instituteof Forensic Mental Health, who both undertook a psychiatric examinationof Donna Fitchett, gave evidence at her trials that she was suffering a majordepressive illness when she killed her children and she could not reason that herconduct was wrong. Justice Curtain outlined Professor Mullen’s description ofDonna Fitchett’s case as one of extended suicide, ‘where a mother with a closerelationship to her children decides that for her to die the children must die aswell because she cannot conceive either of leaving them or of the children beingable to survive without her’. 129However, Dr Yvonne Skinner, a consultant psychiatrist in private practicein Sydney, gave converse evidence. Dr Skinner was not able to undertake apsychiatric examination of Donna Fitchett. Relying on transcripts of the trial,statements and medical reports, she could see no evidence that Donna wassuffering from anything more than mild depression before the killings. 130 Atthe first trial, Dr Skinner also gave evidence that what Donna said in her lettersto her counsellor and husband suggested the killings were motivated by spousalrevenge. 131Justice Nettle, in sentencing Donna Fitchett at her first trial, said that it waspossible that she killed the children because she was upset that when she toldher husband she was going to leave him, her son Thomas said he wanted to staywith his father. Justice Nettle also pointed to a ‘further possibility’ that DonnaFitchett wanted to punish her husband for saying it would be better if she hadnot had children or for ‘not being the sort of husband and father she thoughthe should have been’. 132Justice Curtain, in sentencing Donna Fitchett at her second trial, said thathe accepted that her mild to moderate depression was causally linked to heractions but that did not operate to reduce her moral culpability for the crimesto a significant degree. Justice Curtain said that in the second trial ‘no evidencewas led as to the motive being spousal revenge … the only possible motiveput forward was that you wanted to take your children into death with you,otherwise these are motiveless crimes’. 133128 According to her sister, on the day before the killing Donna Fitchett was ‘a shattered mess’ and quotedconspiracy theories such as the Howard Government put Martin Bryant up to the Port Arthur killings anda BHP employee murdered former prime minister Harold Holt (Gregory 2008).129 R v Fitchett [2010] VSC 393 (para 13).130 R v Fitchett [2008] VSC 258 (para 27).131 R v Fitchett [2008] VSC 258 (para 27).It is not clear from the sentencing documents why this evidence was notgiven at the second trial.132 R v Fitchett [2008] VSC 258 (para 10).133 R v Fitchett [2010] VSC 393 (para 27).75