Killer mother donna fitchett found dead weeks after being released from prison 20250318 p5zc4j.html – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Killer mum Donna Fitchett found dead weeks after release from prison

April Glover
April Glover

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Donna Fitchett has died just weeks after being released from nearly 20 years in prison for the murder of her two sons.

Fitchett, 66, was found dead at a property on King Street, Prahan in south-east Melbourne yesterday at 7pm following a welfare check, police confirmed.

Police said her death was not being treated as suspicious.

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Thomas and Matthew Fitchett, murdered by their mother Donna Fitchett in 2005

Thomas and Matthew Fitchett, murdered by their mother Donna Fitchett in 2005 Supplied

DONNA FITCHETT  Photo shows Donna Fitchett leaving the Magistrates court after police applied to a sample of her DNA taken.  Photo by Jason South for THE AGE  7th September 2005

Fitchett pictured leaving the Magistrates Court in 2005. Jason South

Fitchett was found guilty of drugging and killing her sons Thomas, 11, and Matthew, nine, at the family's home in Balwyn on September 6, 2005.

She claimed she killed her sons because she loved them too much and had pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of insanity.

The boys' father, David Fitchett, discovered his sons when he returned home from work.

Prosecutor Gavin Silbert argued during the 2005 trial that Fitchett had planned the killings days in advance.

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An emotional  David Fitchett, father of murdered boys Thomas and Matthew Fitchett speaks to the waiting media outside the Melbourne Supreme Court today..Age News Pic  by John Woudstra Serpt.1 2010 DIGICAM T

An emotional David Fitchett, father of murdered boys Thomas and Matthew, seen in court in 2010. John Woudstra

Fitchett was sentenced to 27 years behind bars in 2010, with a non-parole period of 18 years, after she successfully overturned her first conviction and sentence of 24 years.

Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Curtain had described her crimes as "utterly inexplicable".

Fitchett had remained behind bars for close to 20 years before she was recently released.

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