Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Two were martyred in an initial toll of the Israeli drone strike that targeted the al-Asira neighborhood in the city of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: An Israeli drone strike targeted the al-Asira neighborhood east of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are the greatest resistance. Know that 'Israel' will fall because it embodies aggression, crime, and occupation; victory is truly yours
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: The value of what you are doing despite your wounds is immense, and here you are, treading the path of the Master of Nation's Martyrs and the leaders
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are moving forward with insight deeper than sight itself. The enemy sought to eliminate your role in the battle, yet you remain steadfast and continue the fight
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors one year later: You are healing from your wounds and rising above them. You have successfully passed the test
Palestinian media: Reports of stabbing operation in occupied al-Quds.
Israeli media: Sirens blare in Arava in South, near Ramon Airport.
Egyptian PM Mostafa Madbouli: Egypt is targeted in plans to redraw regional map
AEOI Chief Mohammad Eslami: Our presence in IAEA General Council and fact-checking helped in preventing unilateral rhetoric that aims to portray Iran as an unregulated country

Aussie woman guilty of killing husband laced vegetable soup with pills

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News websites
  • 4 Aug 2023 15:34
4 Min Read

The Brisbane supreme court argued that an Australian woman who killed her husband suffered physical violence and emotional abuse, alongside being chronically sleep deprived and increasingly isolated and desperate, lessening her sentence.

  • x
  • Police investigating in Australia on December 13, 2022 (AP)
    Police investigating in Australia on December 13, 2022. (AP)

A  69-year-old Australian woman, Judith Ann Venn, dosed her husband’s vegetable soup with a fatal 50 prescription pills because she believed it was the “only solution to an intolerable and hopeless situation”

After her husband Lance Hilton Venn died as a result, she was sentenced to jail on Friday and is eligible for parole after three years behind bars, out of the eight she was sentenced to. 

The Brisbane supreme court argued that Venn suffered physical violence and emotional abuse, alongside being chronically sleep deprived and increasingly isolated and desperate. 

The court further noted that her husband's bipolar disorder and manic-depressive illness worsened massively over the previous 18 months, which made him become agitated and aggressive. On top of that, on 12 August 2020, Lance Venn bought a boat from a neighbor for $20,000, which further caused financial strain.

Read next: Woman chased into the ocean by pack of dingoes on Queensland’s K’gari

The next day, Judith Venn dissolved 50 of Lance's prescription pills in her vegetable soup and put it in containers in the freezer. On August 14, he had a psychologist appointment, but she canceled it when Lance ended up at their daughter’s house during one of his night walks.

“I think if he hadn’t taken off … and he had gone to the psychologist, whom he had seen before, there was still this glimmer of hope that maybe that would’ve changed things,” a psychiatrist report claims. 

Related News

Racism in healthcare behind death of three Aboriginal women: Coroner

A new species of frog discovered in Australia

However, upon finding out that he was outside their daughter's home at 4 am, she replied to her daughter: “Okay, that ends it.”

When he returned home, she served him the pill-laced soup, after which he cut his wrist while he was unconscious, but the cause of death was still found to be the overdose.

'Intolerable and hopeless'

In a letter afterward, she stated that she didn't want her family to go through what she was suffering, and she attempted to commit suicide. She told police that she did not want anyone, namely their daughters, to care for him. 

What's saddening is that the court found that she tried to hide her husband’s physical aggression towards her, as a result of shame, loyalty to him, and not wanting to worry her children. 

Justice Frances Williams argued that the deterioration of her cognitive abilities due to catastrophic thinking made it difficult for her to problem-solve or make rational decisions, adding: “It was in these circumstances that you were led to believe the only solution to an intolerable and hopeless situation was for you and the deceased to die.”

Williams argued that she was not a risk to society and took into consideration that she suffered physical, verbal, and emotional abuse and proved to take the initiative to start rehab. 

“The particular circumstances of the offending arose out of a tragic chain of events including the deceased’s mental illness, which led to your own mental illness,” Williams said, noting that one of her daughters requested in a statement that the court consider the full context of the case when determining the appropriate sentence.

“[She] states that you committed your life to being a loving wife, caring for the deceased while raising three daughters and never putting your needs before others". 

“It recognises your generous and caring nature across every aspect of your life, which illustrates a side to your character that is contrary to the events that transpired.”

  • Queensland
  • Queensland’s K’gari
  • Brisbane
  • Australia
  • prison

Most Read

Pro-"Israel" conservative Charlie Kirk shot during Utah speech

American far-right activist Charlie Kirk shot dead during Utah speech

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza.

Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza

  • Politics
  • 12 Sep 2025
A screengrab from the ad played on Fox News. (X Screengrab)

Fox airs ad warning Trump not to let Netanyahu 'play' him on Gaza

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

  • Palestine
  • 14 Sep 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Britain Trained Israeli Soldiers Involved in Gaza War: Declassified
Europe

UK training of Israeli officers sparks outcry over Gaza war complicity

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden arrives for an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Politics

Luxembourg to recognize Palestine at UN summit next week

European Union flags flap in the wind outside EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025 (AP)
Politics

EU exec. branch to adopt new sanctions against 'Israel' on Wednesday

Charlie Kirk killing suspect faces charges in Utah court hearing
US & Canada

Charlie Kirk murder suspect faces formal charges in Utah court hearing

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS