14. Australia’s First Successful Sleepwalking Defense
At trial, Ivy Cogdon testified that of her many fears, her greatest was of the recently started Korean War, and of how she would protect her family if North Korean soldiers invaded. She was particularly worried that the invaders would “pollute” her daughter. On the night of the homicide, those fears were exacerbated and made more vivid when her daughter told her that she would volunteer as a transport driver if the Koreans invaded Australia. As she lay, wrapped in worries, her daughter told her: “Mummy, don’t be silly worrying about the war. It is not at your front door“.
That attempted reassurance only worsened matters and made Mrs. Cogdon imagine what would happen if the war actually did come to her front door – and crossed the threshold. Based on the medical evidence, Mrs. Cogdon’s mental history, and testimony by family and friends that she had been a loving mother, devoted to her daughter, she was acquitted. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on grounds that she was unaware of her actions at the time, and thus not responsible for their consequences. It was the first time in Australia that somebody had successfully used sleepwalking or somnambulism as a defense, so the case, Regina v. Cogdon, made legal history.