After almost a decade-long wait, a mother is at court where she stands accused of murdering her own son with poisoned juice.

A Gold Coast mother will fight allegations she used a poisoned juice to kill her son at trial, 10 years after she was charged with his murder.

Maree Crabtree is facing trial before Brisbane Supreme Court, accused of killing her adult son Jonathan Crabtree.

Ms Crabtree arrived at court early on Tuesday morning flanked by supporters and her legal team.

She is charged with one count each of murder (domestic violence), attempted murder (domestic violence) and attempted fraud – dishonestly obtains property from another to the value of at least $100,000 and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mother refuses to give son CPR

A triple-0 call made by Ms Crabtree on the morning she discovered her son’s body has been played to a jury.

Ms Crabtree can be heard on the call telling the operator she doesn’t know whether or not her son is breathing.

“I think he’s dead,” she repeatedly told the operator.

“He’s cold and he won’t move.”

In the audio played to the court, the operator can be heard asking Ms Crabtree to perform CPR on Jonathan but she refuses.

“I’ve got a bad back,” Ms Crabtree told the operator.

“I can’t do it.”

The operator then asks if anyone nearby can assist, at which point Ms Crabtree indicates she will find a neighbour and hangs up the call.

Tense mother-son relationship: prosecution

Ms Marco said the court would hear from a friend of Ms Crabtree who remembered the Gold Coast mother stating “Jonathan is like a potato, he has no life and I just want to put something in his drink so he just won’t be here.”

Prosecution said they would allege that Ms Crabtree told friends and acquaintances Jonathan was “hard work” and she “wished he had died in the accident”, referring to his serious car crash in 2015.

She contended Jonathan was frustrated and believed his mother was “controlling” him and his finances.

Ms Marco said evidence would show Jonathan’s friends believed he was depressed following the death of his sister Erin in 2012 but had shown signs of improvement in the months before he died.

According to Ms Marco, the jury would hear evidence Ms Crabtree told a doctor she and her daughter “lived in fear” of Jonathan and “she would not mind or care if Jonathan were to overdose or die”.

Dead for hours

Ms Crabtree waited hours before calling for help despite knowing her son was dead, Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco told the court in her opening address.

The prosecution alleged the Gold Coast mother intentionally killed her adult son by feeding him the lethal dose of prescription medications, hidden inside a fruit juice.

Ms Marco said the jury would hear evidence Ms Crabtree called triple-0 at 9.53am on July 19, 2017 to report she was “uncertain if her son was breathing”, but refused to give CPR, claiming she had a “bad back”.

The prosecutor added, when paramedics arrived shortly after, they saw “obvious signs” Jonathan had been dead for hours, including rigor mortis.

The court was told a key witness in the prosecution case will be Jonathan’s younger sister Tara Crabtree, Jonathan’s younger sister and Ms Crabtree’s daughter.

“She will tell you that she helped her mother by keeping lookout as her mother prepared the drink and, after he drank it, hearing him struggling and coughing during the night,” Ms Marco said.

Ms Marco explained the jury would hear evidence Ms Crabtree called triple-0 the next morning, hours after telling her daughter Jonathan was already dead.

Lethal drink contained oxycodone, jury told

Still addressing the jury in her opening statement, Ms Marco said they would see evidence Jonathan died from a lethal dose of oxycodone found in his system.

“The crown will prove that it was his mother, the defendant that killed him by deliberately giving him a drink in the form of a shake that she prepared in a blender … containing the oxycodone that killed him,” Ms Marco said.

She said Ms Crabtree’s daughter Tara would give evidence that it was not the first time her mother had tried to kill Jonathan using a drink poisoned with oxycodone.

Ms Marco said Jonathan had varied prescription medications in his belongings and throughout his room but said evidence would show none contained oxycodone.

She said the court would hear a form of oxycodone was found in Tara’s room linking to a prescription given to her on June 26, 2017.

More bottles of the same medication were found in the kitchen during a police search, Ms Marco said.

Ms Marco added the jury would hear evidence a blender showed remnants of the same drug found in Jonathan’s system.

She advised the Crown would likely call evidence from about 60 different witnesses over the coming weeks including pharmacists, chemists, neighbours, friends and police.

The defence’s opening remarks are due to be heard on Tuesday afternoon.

Huge number of potential witnesses

Justice Martin Burns has addressed the jury in the trial of Ms Crabtree.

“Your function is to decide if the accused is guilty or not guilty of the charges she faces,” he said.

“That will be your decision alone, not mine.

“(Make) your verdict only on the basis of the evidence … emotion has no part to play.”

Twelve jurors and three reserve jurors have been selected.

“It is very important that you do not speak about the case to anyone outside the jury,” Justice Burns warned jurors.

“It can cause a problem and cause the trial to be aborted.”

Justice Burns advised the jury the trial could run for up to five weeks with more than 20 potential witnesses set to give evidence.

Laced fruit juice claim

Ms Crabtree has consistently denied the allegations against her.

It is almost a decade since Jonathan died after allegedly consuming a fruit juice laced with a fatal dose of prescription medication in 2017.

The trial will interrogate Ms Crabtree’s alleged involvement in his death.

Jonathan Crabtree (pictured with mother Maree Crabtree) died in 2017 after allegedly drinking a poisoned fruit juice. Picture:

Jurors in the trial, who will be picked on Tuesday morning, will hear from presiding Justice Martin Burns before opening addresses take place.

At the close of the trial, the jurors will come to a verdict on all three charges against Ms Crabtree.

The highly anticipated case is set to run for just over three weeks.