Brisbane grandmother ate the soup she had poisoned to kill husband
By Cloe Read
Moments after Judith Ann Venn served her husband vegetable soup laced with a fatal dose of medication in their Brisbane home, she ate the soup herself, before going to read a book, a court has heard.
Venn, 69, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last week in the Brisbane Supreme Court over the 2020 killing of her husband Lance Hilton Venn at their Alexandra Hills home.
The home where the Venns lived.Credit: Nine News
The court heard her husband, who had physically and verbally abused her, had a bipolar disorder and that Venn had “reached the end of her tether” when she put 50 tablets of his medication, lorazepam, into his soup.
The couple, married for 40 years, had lost thousands of dollars after Lance bought several boats in his final months, as his mental health deteriorated.
Venn is now eligible for parole, after having been behind bars for almost three years.
The court heard when Venn’s mental health was assessed, doctors determined she had suffered from a major depressive disorder, and several stressors had contributed to her impaired state of mind.
In sentencing Venn on Friday, Justice Frances Williams said the grandmother feared what would happen if her three adult daughters would have to care for her abusive husband, who had hit her in the face on the day of his death.
Williams said in the early hours of August 14, Lance had gone to the home of one of their daughters at 3.40am.
Once awake, the daughter sent a text to Venn informing her that her father had been at her home since 4am.
Venn replied to the message saying words to the effect of “OK, that ends it”, the court heard.
Lance returned to their home, where Venn served him soup about 7.30am, Williams said.
“After you collected the lorazepam tablets, you cooked a vegetable soup in which you dissolved 50 lorazepam tablets, being approximately one bottle,” Williams said during sentencing.
“You stored the soup in containers and put it in the freezer. You also asked the deceased to sharpen a knife.”
Williams said Lance went to the bathroom to take a shower after eating the soup, and became unsteady on his feet. Venn assisted him to the bed, the court heard.
“When you were assisting him, the deceased hit you in the face, causing bruising to your eyes,” Williams said during her sentencing.
“Once the deceased was in bed, he succumbed to the high dosage of lorazepam and lost consciousness.
“Subsequently to this, you used a knife to cut his left wrist. You wrapped his wrist in a jumper, before leaving the room.”
Venn then wrote a letter to her family, telling them she did not want them to live with the stress she had.
“You then consumed some of the vegetable soup before returning to the bathroom to read a book,” Williams said.
“After a period of time, the drug was not taking effect, you took a knife and used it to cut yourself in various places.”
Paramedics were called after Venn sent a text message to her daughter, who realised something was wrong.
Paramedics were unable to revive Lance, and Venn was arrested.
Williams sentenced Venn to 8½ years, but said she would be eligible for parole as of Friday.
She said Venn’s mental health, her ongoing treatment, her remorse, lack of criminal history, and time in custody, which was almost three years, were mitigating factors.
Help is available at Lifeline on 13 11 14 or beyondblue.org.au