My Fight To Stop Care Home Killers

Aged care angel Charli launched an investigation into nursing homes after her mum was murdered

- Melissa Field

Charli Darragh’s adored mum Marie loved a beer, the occasional cheeky cigarette and the Brisbane Broncos. “She was a beautiful, proud lady too,” says Charli. “She was as sharp as a tack, right up until she died.”

On May 10, 2014, Marie Darragh was murdered by night nurse Megan Haines, who injected the 82-year-old with a lethal dose of insulin after she and two other residents at the St Andrews Village nursing home in Ballina, NSW, complained about her cruel behaviour. Marie’s friend Isabella Spencer, 77 also died.

“When Mum told me how frightened she was of Haines, I urged her to dob her in,” says Charli, 60, one of Marie’s three children. “I told her not to worry and said; ‘What’s she going to do if you complain? Murder you?’”

HAUNTING WORDS

Those words have haunted Charli in the four years since her mum’s senseless death.

“I never imagined that’s what would happen. I still can’t believe Mum was murdered in her bed by someone who was supposed to care for her.”

Marie had lived at St Andrews for three-and-a-half years before Haines killed her. She moved there after a fall and because of her deteriorating eyesight.