A daughter accused of killing her mother using animal euthanasia drugs has been found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.
Barbara Eckersley sat shaking in the Goulburn House courtroom, clutching a tissue in one hand and her lawyers hand with the other as the jury returned the verdict.
Her mother Dr Mary White, an acclaimed botanist, was found dead her room at a Bundanoon aged care facility in the New South Wales Southern Highlands in August 2018.
An autopsy found she had lethal levels of so-called “green dream” veterinary drugs or barbiturates in her system.
Ms Eckersley told the trial she tipped the drugs into her 92-year-old mother’s soup and there was a quick reaction but denied intending to kill her mother.
Ms Eckersley pleaded not guilty to murder saying she was “only intending to make her comfortable” while her mother was in her care.
Her lawyer Mr Kieran Ginger said he intended to argue for a “non-custodial sentence”, but admitted “there will be a bit of argument about that”.
Ms Eckersley was released on bail.
This content first appear on 9news