Accused Australian parent killer 'bared her soul' in prayer

6:40pm
A file image of a judge in a courtroom.

A woman accused of murdering her elderly parents with insulin made "clear and unambiguous" confessions, a prosecutor has told a jury.

Raelene Polymiadis, 65, is on trial in the South Australian Supreme Court, charged with murdering Brenda and Lynton Anderson, who were both aged 94 when they died in March 2022 and May 2023, respectively.

On Wednesday, prosecutor Michael Foundas began his closing address to the jury in a trial that has been running for almost three months.

He began by quoting Polymiadis from two secret recordings played earlier to the jury.

The two alleged confessions were recorded by a listening device in Polymiadis's car, as she drove to an interview with detectives on June 20 and 23, 2023.

"Please, Lord, you know, yes, I have sinned ... thou shall not kill," she said.

"I hate it, but I also know ... that they did not want to go to a nursing home."

She was "baring her soul" as she prayed to God for help and forgiveness, Foundas said,

"Her words are clear and unambiguous confessions … to murdering – albeit for perhaps some misguided notion of sparing her parents the pain of going into a nursing home, but confessions nonetheless – her two parents," Foundas said.

A handwritten note allegedly written by Raelene Polymiadis.

The jury should bear those confessions in the front of their mind when considering the various propositions floated on behalf of Polymiadis, he said.

"An example of what I mean ... [is] this idea that perhaps Mr Anderson administered the insulin to his wife," Foundas said.

Foundas said he would also address suggestions made on behalf of the accused murderer about potential alternative causes of Brenda Anderson's medical conditions, and make submissions about why the jury should put them to one side.

"Quite a few, including what you might think are some that are ridiculous, like the suggestion that the hypoglycaemia [low blood sugar] was caused by [her] necrotic toe," he said.

"You must look at the medical evidence in a holistic way."

Brenda Anderson died from an insulin overdose at the Flinders Medical Centre, as a result of "insulin administered on at least two occasions across two separate hospitals", Foundas told the jury.

On both occasions, Polymiadis was the only family member to visit in the window of time where the insulin must have been administered, Foundas said.

"Remember that Ms Polymadis ... believes insulin is the perfect murder weapon that can go undetected," he said.

Lynton Anderson also died at Flinders Medical Centre after he was found unconscious on his kitchen floor with a large amount of insulin in his body.

"The only other person present in the window of opportunity ... was the accused," Foundas said.

Defence counsel Marie Shaw KC has told jurors context and interpretation were issues with the alleged confession.

"Was my client admitting she was responsible for this, or was she telling her God that she felt responsible for their deaths?" Shaw said in her opening submissions.

"Because if they died of insulin administration, they must have accessed her insulin."

The trial continues.

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