R v Rodney Pitt [2013] NSWSC 548

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Rodney Pitt [2013] NSWSC 548 Hearing dates: 13 May 2013 Decision date: 13 May 2013 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Price J Decision: Not guilty by reason of mental illness. The accused is to be detained at the Forensic Hospital at Long Bay Correctional Centre until released by due process of law. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - murder - judge alone trial - mental illness - whether defence of mental illness established Legislation Cited: Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 s 39 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Crown Rodney Pitt (Accused) Representation: Counsel: Mr L Lungo (Crown) Ms D Yehia SC (Accused) File Number(s): 2011/00414169

Judgment 1HIS HONOUR: Rodney Pitt pleads not guilty to the charge that he did murder Leslie James Pitt on 24 December 2011 at Walgett in the State of New South Wales. The plea of not guilty is entered on the basis that the accused was mentally ill at the time. Leslie James Pitt, the deceased, was the father of the accused. 2The Crown bears the onus of proof of establishing beyond reasonable doubt: (i) that it was a deliberate act or acts of the accused that caused the death of Leslie James Pitt; and (ii) the deliberate act or acts causing death were done with the intention to kill. 3As the sole issue is the question of mental illness, the trial has proceeded by the way of the tender of witness statements, Dr Cala's autopsy reports, the DNA analysis and the reports of the psychiatrists (ex A). 4I will refer to some of the witness statements as succinctly as possible. At about 4:45pm on Saturday 24 December 2011 Detective Senior Constable Singh and Inspector Ralph were informed by the Castlereagh LAC Aboriginal and Cultural Liaison Officer, Isaac Gordon, who for the sake of convenience I will refer to as "Isaac", about his concerns about the accused. 5Isaac advised that one of his relatives, Leslie, was having problems with his son, Rodney, who had been suffering from schizophrenia. He said that Leslie had contacted him recently voicing concerns about Rodney's health and his belief that Rodney had gone off his medication. Detective Senior Constable Singh informed Isaac that the police would have to conduct an assessment and based on that Rodney could either be taken to the hospital under a schedule or voluntarily go to the hospital of his own accord. Isaac said that Leslie did not want police to take Rodney from home but that he was going to talk to Leslie about it a bit more. Detective Senior Constable Singh suggested that Isaac speak to Leslie to find out if he wanted police assistance in which case an assessment of Rodney would be undertaken. 6At about 6:06pm Mr Bert Gordon, conveniently referred to as "Bert", Isaac's brother, received a phone call from Leslie saying, "Help, I've been stabbed". Bert drove to Leslie's house, followed by an ambulance. Bert was accompanied by a number of people and contacted Leslie's grandson, Edward Pitt, who also attended the premises. 7Bert stated, in his statement signed 24 December 2011, that he saw the accused come out of another bedroom on the opposite side of the lounge room and he had his hand clenched like he had a knife up his arm. 8Edward Pitt, in his statement signed 26 December 2012, stated that having entered Leslie's house, he found Leslie covered in blood and with a large cut to the back of his head. He stated that Leslie did not say what had happened to him. 9The police subsequently found a white-handled boning knife under Leslie's bed that was covered in blood. Leslie was taken to Walgett Hospital and treated for stab wounds to his head and upper torso. He was pronounced dead by Dr Mohammad Sharier at 9:41pm. 10The accused was arrested shortly after the incident. At the time of his arrest, Detective Senior Constable Singh observed that he was suffering from large wounds to the insides of his hands. Dr Sharier examined the accused in his police cell at 10:30pm and stated that the accused was agitated and not communicating with anyone. Dr Sharier scheduled the accused for involuntary admission. 11The autopsy report reveals that the deceased had died from multiple stab wounds. The only rational inference from all of the evidence is that the accused stabbed his father multiple times with a white-handled boning knife. 12Ms Yehia SC does not submit the stabbing was not voluntary, that is, not willed by the accused. 13I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused deliberately stabbed his father multiple times, thereby causing his death, and he did so with the intention to kill. 14I turn to the sole question for consideration, which is whether the accused at the time of the stabbing was mentally ill so as not to be responsible according to law. 15The onus of proof of establishing mental illness is on the accused on the balance of probabilities. The Crown does not contend that the accused has failed to discharge the onus of establishing mental illness. To establish that the accused was mentally ill so as not to be responsible according to law for his actions, the accused must show that as a result of a defect of reason from a disease of the mind he did not appreciate the nature and quality of the physical act of stabbing his father or did not know that it was wrong. 16What then is meant by a disease of the mind which produces such a defect of reason? The law requires that the accused's state of mind must have been one of disease, disorder or disturbance arising from some condition which may be temporary or longstanding, whether curable or incurable. A defect of reason, memory or understanding involves a disorder of the capacity to reason such as one that prevented the accused from knowing what he was doing, in that he did not know the physical nature or quality of the act or did not know that the act was wrong but wrong according to the ordinary standards of reasonable people in our community. 17As to whether the accused did not know the act of stabbing his father was wrong, the question I ask myself is whether the accused could be said to know, in the sense of appreciating or understanding, that his acts of stabbing his father were wrong if, through a disease or disorder of the mind, the accused could not think rationally of the reasons which to ordinary people would make that act right or wrong. 18Dr Bruce Westmore, a psychiatrist, examined the accused on 14 September 2012. In a report dated 17 September 2012 Dr Westmore reports that the accused told him that he had been hearing voices and seeing ghostly figures for about two months. As to the events on the day of the stabbing the accused's recount of events to Dr Westmore, included hearing strange voices that were getting bad, and he did not remember grabbing a knife. He said that he knocked on his father's door, that his father opened the door and saw that he had a knife. The accused told Dr Westmore that he heard voices as he got into the room telling him to "do it, do it". He said that he had the knife raised up in the air. His father sort of fell in shock and said, "Don't, Rodney." The accused said that all of a sudden he heard the voices saying, "Do it, do it." He lowered the knife and hit his father with the knife in the shoulder. The accused said that he did not remember stabbing his father after the first blow. The accused explained to Dr Westmore that he thought his father had molested his kids or himself when he was young; that was what the voices were telling him. 19The accused told Dr Westmore he first heard voices in about 1995 when he was about 16 or 17. He said that he was getting messages from Hillary Clinton when he would see her on television. 20The accused first saw a mental health worker when he was aged 16 or 17. He was hospitalised in 2005, and there had been two admissions to Bloomfield with the last admission occurring in 2007 or 2008. The accused said that he had been prescribed Zyprexa on two separate occasions in the past but he last took medication about three to four weeks before the stabbing. 21Dr Westmore's diagnosis included chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Dr Westmore opined, page 6: "[The accused] was acutely mentally ill at the time. He was suffering from a disease of the mind (chronic paranoid schizophrenia). This illness would have totally compromised his ability to understand his actions in relation to his father were wrong, both in a moral and legal sense. His mental illness would have prevented him to consider his actions with a moderate degree of calmness and rational thought. I believe he was delusionally driven and he could raise the defence of mental illness." 22In his evidence this afternoon, Dr Westmore confirmed the opinions that he expressed in the report. 23Dr Lisa Brown, a psychiatrist, interviewed the accused at the request of the Crown on 29 January 2013. In a report dated 31 January 2013, Dr Brown carefully reviewed the accused's prior mental history and considered the accused had developed schizophrenia in around 2006. She considered that it was likely that in the period leading up to 24 December 2011 both the accused's substance abuse and psychotic symptoms remained active in association with a lack of compliance with antipsychotic treatment. She considered that the various sources of the information that she reviewed were consistent with the accused having suffered from an acute form of psychosis as part of an underlying diagnosis of schizophrenia at the time of the events occurring on 24 December 2011. 24There is no disagreement in the opinions expressed by the psychiatrists. Dr Brown writes at page 17: "Similar to the opinion provided by Dr Westmore it has been considered likely that [the accused's] capacity to consider his actions and their consequences, both from a moral and legal point of view, were impaired by his psychotic illness, even taking into account possible contributions from antisocial personality features and intercurrent substance abuse..." 25In her oral evidence, Dr Brown confirmed her agreement with the opinions expressed by Dr Westmore. 26The opinions of the psychiatrists are supported by the accused's longstanding mental illness, the evidence from Isaac Gordon as to the difficulties the accused had with his mental health over the years and the accused's strange behaviour on the afternoon of 24 December 2011 prior to the stabbing. 27One of the matters mentioned by Mr Gordon was that when he saw the accused at Dewhurst Street the accused went to the front fence, raised his head to the sky and howled like an animal or a werewolf. Mr Gordon sought to persuade the accused to go to hospital but was unsuccessful. 28Shortly after the accused was arrested, he was assessed by Dr Sharier. The accused was agitated, non-communicating and seemed to be responding to auditory hallucinations. Dr Sharier scheduled the accused under the Mental Health Act for involuntary admission as his behaviour was not safe for himself or others. Justice Health records reveal features consistent with a psychotic illness, including inappropriate smiling, restricted, guarded and blunted moves and thought blocking, all of which Dr Brown considered were characteristic features of schizophrenia. 29I accept the opinions of Dr Westmore and Dr Brown. The accused has satisfied me on the balance of probabilities that at the time he stabbed his father he was suffering from chronic paranoid schizophrenia, a disease of the mind. As a consequence of the paranoid schizophrenia, he could not consider his actions with a moderate degree of calmness and rational thought. I find that the accused did not know at the time of the stabbing that what he was doing was wrong. 30I find the accused not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness. 31Pursuant to s 39 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990, I order that the accused be detained in the forensic hospital at the Long Bay Correctional Centre until released by due process of law.