Tracey Lee Pratt, 43, had been charged with the murders of Margaret and Kenneth Keyte, who were found dead in their Batehaven home in August last year.

Pratt had used an electronic massage appliance and her own fists to fatally bash the couple, aged 71 and 86, the NSW Supreme Court sitting in Wollongong heard.

The court had heard Pratt admitted killing the couple, but could not be legally responsible because she had been suffering schizophrenia at the time.

Yesterday Justice Robert Allan Hulme found Pratt not guilty of the couple’s murders on the grounds of mental illness.

Justice Hulme ordered she remain as a forensic patient in an appropriate jail or secure hospital indefinitely.

She would be regularly reviewed by the Mental Health Tribunal until it was deemed she was safe to be released on a gradual basis.

The court heard this was a ‘’cautious process’’ and may take years or decades.

The hearing began on Monday when Crown Prosecutor Paul Cattini told the court Mr and Mrs Keyte were found dead on the lounge room floor of their home in Beach Rd, Batehaven.

Mr Cattini said there was no sign of forced entry and the pair were dressed in their pyjamas.

Biscuits found in the sink indicated the trio had had some form of agreeable conversation before the violent assault.

Police believed when the appliance broke, Pratt used a chair to continue the attack and had used “considerable violence”.

Pratt was charged with the couple’s murder after police matched fingerprints at the scene with prints taken when Pratt was arrested for an unrelated matter almost two weeks later.