R v Davidson (No. 2) [2019] NSWSC 1011

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Davidson (No. 2) [2019] NSWSC 1011 Hearing dates: 29 July 2019 – 31 July 2019; 2 August 2019; 7 August 2019 Date of orders: 14 August 2019 Decision date: 14 August 2019 Before: Davies J Decision: I return a verdict of not guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter Catchwords: CRIME– murder - trial by judge alone – accused and deceased both inmates at the same prison – not in dispute that the deceased died from the combined effect of strangulation and blunt force trauma – whether it was the accused's acts that killed the deceased – where the accused said he could not remember doing the acts causing death – circumstantial Crown case – where CCTV footage showed the deceased and accused alone in cell for more than 20 minutes with door shut – shortly after the accused left the cell the deceased was found unresponsive in his cell and subsequently died in hospital – injuries not capable of being self-inflicted or caused by misadventure – accused's acts killed the deceased

CRIME — murder — defences — mental illness - where two expert psychiatrists agreed that the accused suffered from schizophrenia – disease of mind found – whether the accused could demonstrate that it was the underlying mental illness that was responsible for his acts causing death – where accused failed to demonstrate that it was his mental illness rather than self-induced intoxication that was operating on his actions - where the accused failed to show that he did not know that what he did was wrong – defence not made out

CRIME — criminal liability — intoxication — offences of specific intent - where the accused had consumed methamphetamine and Xanax on the morning of the offending – whether the accused's self-induced intoxication deprived him of the capacity to form the requisite specific intention – elements of murder not made out - verdict of not guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter