A man facing murder and attempted murder charges believed he was killing Prince Charles, Julius Caesar and Satan when he smothered his young cousin, the High Court at Wellington was told yesterday.
Hugh Gordon Bryant, aged 23, has been charged with murdering his cousin, Thomas Lance Dashay Schuman, aged two,
on January 23 in Masterton, and attempting to murder another cousin, Lorraine Jessica Lea Tapine, then aged nine, a week earlier.
The former New Zealand boxing champion has pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
Forensic psychiatrist Professor Phil Brinded said he believed Bryant was legally insane at the time of the murder and attempted murder.
Professor Brinded said Bryant had told him he tried to get away with the killing because, though he knew it was the right thing to do, others would believe Thomas was a child and would not realise he was Satan. He also thought the child was Julius Caesar and Prince Charles.
Health Ministry director of mental health David Chaplow gave the same opinion, as did Dr Nick Judson, who treated Bryant from his admission to Porirua Hospital in January until June.
In closing the crown case , prosecutor Grant Burston said there were two victims in the case - Thomas Schuman, who would always be two years old, and Hugh Bryant.
"He [Thomas] was brutally killed in his own home in his parents' bed, where he was entitled to be safe from harm. Hugh Bryant, because he has been struck down by this terrible mental illness called schizophrenia, this terrible mental illness that has had a devastating effect on his life ... and will continue to have that effect on his life."
Mr Burston said the defence psychiatric evidence had not been challenged by the Crown.
"Having regard to the evidence, there was really nothing to challenge the defence psychiatric evidence with."
He said that, on the expert evidence, the jury "may feel that the conclusion is inescapable" - that when Bryant tried to kill Lorraine and killed Thomas, he met the legal test for insanity.
Defence counsel Ken Daniels asked the jury to put aside feelings of tragedy while making their decision.
There could be no question, he felt, that the accused was not guilty by reason of insanity.
"The only question, then, that I would leave with you is the question I asked at the beginning: why would anyone in their right mind even think of harming these two children? Bryant did not see them as young children."
Earlier, in a videotaped police interview played to the court, Bryant described Thomas' struggles as he held him down, at which point Thomas' mother, Lorene Schuman, left the court in tears.
Bryant also confessed to having tried to smother Thomas on an earlier occasion, but said he would not have done so if the children were real children.
"She [Lorene Schuman] knew they weren't but she was scared of them. She knew that they weren't real children but she had to look after them," he said.
The forensic nurse who examined Bryant on his arrest noted that he had been hearing voices for quite some time, but they had increased in intensity over the previous few days.
She asked Bryant to draw a picture of Thomas.
The picture he drew, which was shown to the jury, showed a horned demon.
The jury will retire this morning, after Justice Heron has summed up.
- NZPA
A man facing murder and attempted murder charges believed he was killing Prince Charles, Julius Caesar and Satan when he smothered his young cousin, the High Court at Wellington was told yesterday.
Hugh Gordon Bryant, aged 23, has been charged with murdering his cousin, Thomas Lance Dashay Schuman, aged two,
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