The doctor accused of strangling his terminally ill mother had been drinking the night she died and was slurring his speech, according to the policewoman who interviewed him.
Detective Constable Tracey Gallagher took a statement from Christopher Simpson three hours after his mother, Florence Marjorie Simpson, was found hanging halfway out of bed with her morphine bag's strap wound tightly around her neck.
Simpson, aged 54, was later charged with murdering the 82-year-old woman, who was dying of bowel cancer.
At a depositions hearing in the Manukau District Court yesterday, Detective Constable Gallagher said it was clear Simpson had been drinking.
"He certainly appeared intoxicated to some degree. He was very difficult to talk to," she said.
"He was slurring his words slightly and he did appear to be slightly unbalanced, although not to the point where you would say he was drunk."
Detective Constable Gallagher said Simpson spoke erratically during the interview.
He pulled angry facial expressions at the mention of euthanasia, and had clumsy motor skills.
On Monday, the court was told Simpson had half a bottle of wine and three glasses of brandy on the night of his mother's death.
His youngest brother, Melvyn, also said yesterday that Simpson's behaviour at their mother's Howick home had been abnormal.
There was a sequence of strange events such as Simpson trying to remove his mother's television and video from the house, which led Melvyn Simpson to "suspect that he had flipped his lid."
Melvyn Simpson also claims he saw his brother trying to smother the elderly woman with a pillow.
"I was scared shitless. I'm actually frightened of my brother because if he is in a bad mood, he's a big strong bloke."
But under cross-examination yesterday, Melvyn Simpson admitted drinking numerous glasses of brandy himself the night his mother died.
The university art lecturer avoided questions about how intoxicated he was when interviewed by police, instead replying he was "tired, shocked, stunned and disgusted."
Melvyn Simpson's de facto partner, who was with the brothers and Mrs Simpson that October evening, is due to give evidence today at the hearing before two justices of the peace.
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