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Nurse will be extradited to NSW after arrest over nursing home deaths Nurse will be extradited to NSW after arrest over nursing home deaths
(about 3 hours later)
A nurse will be extradited to Sydney after being arrested in Melbourne in connection to the suspected murders of two nursing home patients and an attack on another. Two nursing home patients died from fatal doses of insulin and another was left hospitalised after complaints were made about a registered nurse, police allege.
The 46-year-old woman, who has not been charged, was arrested at a home in Seaspray, in Victoria's south-east, on Monday. Marie Darragh, 82, and Isobella Spencer 77, died at their Ballina nursing home in northern New South Wales in May.
She appeared in Melbourne magistrates court on Tuesday where an application for extradition was granted. They were found unconscious in their beds and died a short time later.
The woman kept her head down throughout the hearing and tried to cover her face with her hair. Police allege a 46-year-old nurse from the St Andrews Village Aged Care facility administered Darragh and Spencer fatal doses of insulin in the middle of the night.
Her lawyer told the court the woman had never been in police custody before and was taking medication for severe depression. Another aged care resident, an 88-year-old, was also assaulted.
New South Wales detective sergeant Darren Gunn said the woman would be flown to Sydney on Tuesday evening. Police allege the 88-year-old woke in the middle of the night to find the nurse trying to give her "unscheduled medication".
Marie Darragh, 82, and Isobella Spencer, 77, died at their northern NSW nursing home in May. They were found unconscious in their beds but died a little later. The nurse was arrested in Seaspray in Victoria on Monday and is expected to arrive in Sydney on Tuesday night with homicide detectives.
A third elderly woman at the home was attacked on the same night but survived. Homicide squad boss Detective Superintendent Mick Willing said the nurse would be charged with two counts of murder and assault.
"We are alleging two of the three victims made complaints about the 46-year-old during the course of her employment," he said.
It's understood one of the women who died and the 88-year-old were behind the complaints.
Willing said the nurse was on registered days off after the nursing home deaths and then handed in her resignation.
She then allegedly fled to Victoria, where she used to live.
"The woman, following the deaths of the two elderly residents, left the nursing home on her own accord and moved to Seaspray," Willing said.
The Melbourne magistrates court, where the nurse appeared on Tuesday to be extradited to NSW, heard she had never been in police custody before and was taking medication for severe depression.
After the arrest, St Andrews Aged Care’s CEO, Pip Carter, said the news was devastating.
"I want to reassure residents and the community that the safety and care of St Andrews residents always has been and always will be a priority," she said.
According to the Australian practitioners’ registry, the accused woman was first registered as a nurse in 2012.