Latest news with #delusionaldisorder
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Man was delusional while allegedly falsely imprisoning woman and trying to murder her
A man was suffering from a delusional disorder when he is alleged to have falsely imprisoned a former work colleague in his car - where the door handles had been sealed with tape, thrown hot chilli in her eyes, and tried to murder her after becoming convinced she had deliberately given him an STI, a psychiatrist told his trial on Thursday. It was during the opening of the Central Criminal Court trial of attempted murder accused Jineesh John on Thursday that Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, said the consultant psychiatrists for both the State and defence are in agreement "of the core facts" that the defendant was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the offence. Advertisement Jineesh John (43), with an address at The Crescent Building, Park West, Dublin 12 has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of a woman at a location in West Dublin on May 21st, 2023. Mr John also pleaded not guilty to making a threat to kill or cause the woman serious harm without lawful excuse, intending her to believe that the said threat would be carried out on the same occasion. He further pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning the woman by intentionally or recklessly detaining her without her consent at the same time. In addition, the defendant pleaded not guilty to producing in a manner likely unlawfully to intimidate another person, an article capable of inflicting serious injury, to wit a hammer on the same date, while committing or appearing to be about to commit an offence of false imprisonment of the woman. Advertisement Fiona Murphy SC, defending, told the jury that the defence of not guilty by reason of insanity under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006 was being sought by the panel. Opening the prosecution's case today, Mr Grehan told the 12 jurors that the issue of insanity had been raised by the defence and the four charges related to a single incident which happened over a 30 minute period between 8:50pm and 9:30pm at an Industrial Estate on May 21st, 2023. Counsel told the jury that the woman in the case came to the public office at a garda station on the morning of May 22nd seeking to speak to officers. He said Detective Garda Tom Balfe interviewed the victim, where she set out how she was falsely imprisoned in the accused's car, that he had threatened to kill her and she believed she was going to be killed by him. Advertisement Mr Grehan said the jury would hear that Mr John and the woman had previously worked together in a health care setting but despite this they were not particularly known to each other. He said they had moved onto different jobs but contact had been re-established. Under the guise that the accused was giving presents to her and was helping her fill out a medical assistance form, Mr Grehan said the woman had agreed to meet Mr John and go with him in his car. Outlining the facts of the case, the lawyer said when the pair got to an industrial estate the accused told her to close her eyes as he had a present for her. He said the woman complied with that request but when she opened her eyes the accused threw hot chilli powder or flakes into her face attempting to blind her in the eyes. Advertisement The woman went to get out of the car but discovered the door handle and the switch activating the window had been duct taped over so it was not usable. Mr Grehan told the jury that the accused had threatened to kill the woman and said he was going to kill her. Mr John then threatened her with a hammer he had in the car whilst she pleaded with him not to kill her, he added. The court heard further evidence will be that the only way the accused agreed to let the woman go was if she was prepared to say on a mobile phone video-recording that she had given him a sexually transmitted disease in 2021. Counsel said the woman had no contact "in any way, shape or form" with Mr John but that the accused had developed "a preoccupation", which she was unaware of. He said the accused made a number of short videos in the car that day, which the jury would see. Advertisement The barrister further stated that the woman was prepared to say anything to be let go and Mr John dropped her back to her home. The woman and her husband later went to the garda station where she handed over her clothing and an investigation ensued. The prosecution barrister went on to tell the court that the woman's clothing was examined and there was a pepper like substance still adhering to parts of them. He said the jury would hear from two consultant psychiatrists on behalf of the defence and the prosecution, who will say the accused was suffering from a mental disorder namely a delusional disorder at the time, which qualifies him for a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. Detective evidence Giving evidence on Thursday, Detective Garda Thomas Balfe told Mr Grehan that the woman was a health care assistant and worked for different agencies. He said the woman had met the accused, who was also a health care worker, at a care home facility in April or May 2021. The detective said the woman and the accused sometimes worked together in the same shift but she didn't know him well. The woman left the health care facility but the accused continued working there. In October 2022, the detective said the accused had contacted the woman by phone looking for advice about a hospital, after her friend gave the woman's number to Mr John. The woman wasn't sure who the accused was but knew he was a former colleague and gave him advice during a brief telephone call. The woman had offered to help the accused with the application process for the hospital and he rang her again a month later. Around Christmas 2022, the accused called the woman to say he wanted to drop off gifts to her children and he met her when she got off the bus, said Mr Grehan. The witness said the accused arranged to call to the woman's house regarding filling out a church form at 8.30pm on May 21st. The woman got into the car to fill out the form and didn't suspect anything. The accused then started to drive his car before pulling up on a footpath beside an industrial estate. The detective said when the car was pulled over the accused told the woman to close her eyes as he wanted to give her a surprise. When she opened her eyes the accused rubbed a handful of really hot chilli powder in her face, which stung her eyes and lips. The accused also had a hammer in one of his hands. The detective said when the woman tried to get out of the car she could see that everywhere was sealed with black sticky tape, including the door handle. The woman thought the accused was going to kill her and started preaching at him not to do so. The witness said the accused kept saying: "I'm going to kill you, say your last prayer". The accused told her he had never killed before but he was going to kill her. The accused told the woman that she had given him a sexually transmitted disease (STD) to which she told him that she had never slept with him. Mr John said he would only let her go on condition she said she gave him an STD. The accused proceeded to record on his mobile phone the woman saying she gave him an STD in 2021 despite never kissing or having sexual contact with him. He made another video of the woman saying she gave him a STD through kissing before dropping her home. The witness said gardai later found a black-handled knife inside the accused's driver's door as well as a hatchet, a lump hammer and containers containing a chilli like substance. Black duct tape and adhesive tapping were also seized from inside the passenger door as well as a Jerrycan containing flammable petrol. Forensic psychiatrist Ireland Commissioner wins court appeal over dismissal of g... Read More Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Stephen Monks, who was called on behalf of the defence, told Fiona Murphy SC that when he met with the accused in April and October 2024 the accused remained 90 per cent convinced he was deliberately infected with HIV by the victim in the case, despite medical evidence to the contrary. Dr Monks said the accused is suffering from delusionary disorder and depression, which are both mental illnesses. He said the accused's actions were directly driven by delusional thinking in response to the psychotic belief that he had been harmed by the victim. He said Mr John met the three criteria for a mental disorder under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006; namely that he did not know the nature and quality of his act, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong and that he was unable to refrain from committing the act. The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven men and five women.
CNA
5 days ago
- CNA
'Shocking and brutal': 18 years' jail for woman who killed adoptive father over flat ownership after mother's death
SINGAPORE: Angered that her adoptive father was refusing to share flat ownership with her after her mother died, a woman bought a chopper and hacked the 67-year-old man to death after he emerged from a shower. Tan Qiu Yan, 32, was sentenced to 18 years' jail on Monday (Jul 14) after pleading guilty to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The Singaporean woman qualified for the partial defence of diminished responsibility, where offenders' mental state reduces their responsibility for their criminal acts. This is because she suffered from delusional disorder of a persecutory type, with a background of schizoid personality disorder at the time of the offence. She was labouring under delusional beliefs against the backdrop of grief related to the death of her adoptive mother, who appeared to be her primary social support, the court heard. People suffering from persecutory delusions typically hold the false belief that they are being obstructed, conspired against, attacked or harassed. WHAT HAPPENED Tan was adopted as a child by Mr Tan Ah Bang and his wife. The family lived in a flat at Block 190A Rivervale Drive in Sengkang. In 2019, Tan's adoptive mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. Before she died, she promised Tan that she would leave her share of the flat to her, court documents stated. After her death in August 2022, her share of the flat automatically passed to Mr Tan, who became the owner of the flat. During the funeral wake, Tan got into quarrels with her father over her mother's financial assets and ownership of the flat. During one quarrel, he got angry and told his daughter that she had to move out of the flat. She then told her father that her mother had left the flat to her, and not to him, and began crying. At this, Mr Tan relented and promised to transfer ownership of the whole apartment to his daughter. However, she did not trust her father and feared that he would eventually have the whole home to himself. A few days after the funeral wake, she bought a chopper from a supermarket, selecting a larger one that was very sharp, thinking that it would be "more effective" in killing her father. After the funeral, father and daughter went to a law firm to settle administrative matters, where the lawyers advised the pair to check on the title deed of the flat and to whom it belongs. Tan helped her father to reset his password for Singpass, the national authentication system for e-services, and used it to check the Housing and Development Board (HDB) records pertaining to the flat. She discovered that her parents had owned the flat as joint tenants. In October 2022, she called the law firm and updated it about this fact. She then became aware that her father had become the sole owner of the property after her mother's death. She panicked and suspected that her father would kick her out of the flat. On an occasion after this, she asked her father when he was going to the HDB office to add her as the flat's owner. Her father refused and scolded her for several things, including not telling him that she had received Central Provident Fund money from her mother. During this quarrel, Tan flung a cup and a jar of peanut butter to the ground. Her father cleaned up the mess and said he would not leave the flat to her when he died, but that he would donate it. Immediately, she thought about killing him and considered using a pair of scissors on the table. She returned to her bedroom thinking about it, fearing that she would become homeless. THE DAY OF THE KILLING On Nov 3, 2022, Tan woke at around 8am and heard her father telling someone on the phone that it was not convenient to talk because his daughter was around. Thinking that her father was "scheming" to get the flat, she called the law firm requesting to be added as owner of the flat, but was told that she could not. She continued ruminating on whether to kill her father until lunchtime that day, when she received a card from a hospital signed by doctors offering condolences on her mother's death. She began crying as she read the card. After lunch, she returned to her bedroom where she practised using the chopper to slash the air and a banana. She found that the cut was clean and the blade was sharp. She then checked on her father and found him lying on his front in his bedroom. She considered taking him by surprise, but grew scared because "she had never killed anyone before", the prosecution said. She decided to give her father "one last chance". Later, she went to the toilet where he was scrubbing her work uniform and asked if he was willing to share the flat with her in a 50-50 ownership. He angrily said that he would not and told her not to bring it up anymore. At this, Tan made up her mind to kill him. She considered her options before deciding to catch him by surprise in the toilet. That evening, the father cooked dinner and they ate together. She then waited for him to take a shower. Once she heard the sound of running water, she removed her glasses so they would not fall or break in the attack and waited outside the toilet holding the chopper. At 8pm, when her father opened the door, she swung the weapon at him. The man tried to say something, but she ignored him and hacked at him "at a very fast pace", aiming for his neck, the court heard. After she hacked at her father five to 10 times, the man fell backwards, his hand grasping his daughter's hair. He landed in a sitting position near the sink and she continued attacking. She could not tell where the chopper was landing because her father did not release his grip on her hair. He bit her finger, but she did not stop. Feeling that her father was still alive and holding onto her hair, she hacked at him about 10 more times until he released his grip and was motionless on the floor. She sat cross-legged facing her father and hacked at him about 30 more times, finally stopping when she got tired. The entire attack had lasted about 10 minutes, according to her estimate. She then cleaned up the toilet, threw away her bloodstained clothes, went to listen to music and looked at childhood photos of herself with her parents. At about 5am on Nov 4, 2022, she began heading to Sengkang Police Station before it occurred to her that the police could come to her instead. She called the police and said that her father had died at home and asked them to head to the flat. She was arrested later that morning. THE AFTERMATH An autopsy certified Mr Tan's cause of death as bleeding due to incised wounds to the neck. He had suffered numerous deep incised wounds to his neck. Tan was assessed by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and found to be suffering from delusional disorder of a persecutory type, with a background of schizoid personality disorder. She qualified for the partial defence of diminished responsibility, but she was not of unsound mind at the time of the offence and was fit to plead in court. The psychiatrist said Tan had limited insight into her condition and that if untreated, her psychosis would be expected to elevate her risk of reoffending, especially if her delusional beliefs extended to other people in her life. Deputy Public Prosecutors Sheldon Lim and Gladys Lim sought life imprisonment for Tan, the maximum penalty. Mr Lim said that Tan has not been cured and there is a risk of deterioration of her psychosis if she does not adhere to treatment on a long-term basis. Tan is an only child with no relatives or caregivers to supervise her, and if she stops taking medication, the consequences would be dire and she would "pose a catastrophic risk to the community at large", Mr Lim added. Defence lawyer Daniel Koh asked for five to seven years' jail instead, saying his client is agreeable to continue taking her medication and had been cooperative in correctional settings. She was described as being very isolated and tended to keep to herself, but there had been improvement in her hygiene and grooming and she had been observed to relate better to others in general, Mr Koh added. Speaking on the "ecosystem of inmates being released post-incarceration", Mr Koh said that Anglican Care Centre is prepared to respond on arrangements when Tan is released. Tan had also been attended to by a pastor from Prison Fellowship, who was in court showing support for her. Justice Mavis Chionh found that the case did not fulfil one of three conditions required to impose life imprisonment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. She agreed with the defence that Tan did not fulfil the second criterion, which requires determination of whether the accused is a person of unstable character likely to commit such offences in future. Justice Chionh said it was material that Tan did not have a history of offending, or unstable or violent behaviour. She pointed to an IMH report, which said a major factor in Tan's mental state at the time was the grief from losing her mother, whose death from cancer was "devastatingly experienced" by Tan. The judge also found it material that an IMH psychiatrist noted in a January 2025 report that Tan "appeared to have gained at least partial insight into her condition". Justice Chionh said Tan's fears of being left homeless seemed to have been fortified by a number of unfortunate encounters with her father. "That the deceased, who clearly doted on the accused, likely spoke impulsively and that he might eventually have acceded to her demands is besides the point," the judge added. "The point is that her conduct was founded on fact, not fantasy or fiction, although evidently the violence she inflicted ... was entirely out of proportion to the perceived threat." Nonetheless, Justice Chionh said it was "a shocking and brutal act of violence" by the accused against her adoptive father. Photos in court documents "attest vividly to the significant ferocity" of Tan's attack, the judge added. "While armed with a sharp weapon, she inflicted horrific and ultimately fatal injuries on a man who had cared for her for many years." She considered 18 years appropriate for the case, while weighing the mitigating factors.
