Mother Charged With Murdering Her 2 Sons Fronts Court

A mother charged with murdering her two sons at their Blue Mountains home has made a brief court appearance where she was remanded in custody. Patricia Joan Smith, 42, fronted Parramatta Local Court for the first time on Sept. 14 in a brief hearing where she did not apply for bail. Police charged Smith, the mother of 11-year-old Russell and nine-year-old Ben Smith, with two counts of domestic violence-related murder after their bodies were found at their Faulconbridge home on Sept. 10. Emergency services had been called to the house following welfare concerns for a woman and two children, with the boys’ father allegedly finding their bodies on the same day....