Mr Munoz's History and Mental State
48The mental history and state of Mr Munoz was proved through the expert reports of Dr Olav Nielssen, an expert forensic psychiatrist, dated 16 February 2014, and Dr Stephen Allnutt, also an expert forensic psychiatrist, dated 2 April 2014.
49Dr Nielssen examined Mr Munoz at the MRRC on 14 January 2014 and Dr Allnutt examined him at the MRRC on 24 March 2014. There is no significant disagreement between each of the experts.
50In their reports, each of the experts has paid significant attention to the accused's medical history, acquired from medical records and orally from the accused.
51I am satisfied that I should approach the histories provided to the psychiatrists, although principally admitted for the purpose of demonstrating their psychiatric opinions, as evidence of the truth of what the psychiatrists were told: s 60 Evidence Act 1995.
52Mr Munoz was born on 14 August 1972 in Australia. He was the youngest of five children born to his parents who were of Mapoochie Indian heritage. He was the only one born in Australia after his family migrated from Chile. His father was a machinist, and his mother was a factory worker. His elder brother was a forklift driver, his eldest sister looked after students, his next eldest sister was a social worker and the youngest of his sisters was a florist, and now cares for his children.
53Mr Munoz was born in Macquarie Fields and lived in that suburb for thirty years until he purchased the property at Hobartville. He had an apparently difficult childhood. His father died of a heart condition when he was aged nine or ten years old. He reported that while his father was alive, he was exposed to domestic violence and physical abuse.
54He attended school to the end of year ten. He stated that he was in the "low classes" at school and had learning difficulties with reading and mathematics. He had many friends and got on well with teachers. However, he also had some behavioural problems which included, running away from home on one occasion, fighting, stealing, frequent truanting, damaging property and early onset substance abuse.
55After leaving school, the accused had difficulty maintaining employment. He reported that this was due to his being unable to find something which he enjoyed, together with interpersonal conflicts in the workplace, poor motivation and concentration problems. He worked initially as a storeman at an Army depot in Moorebank, then fabricating sheets, and then in a frame and truss factory. He did not work for a period after his first children were born. In recent years, he worked as a forklift driver and as a security guard. He lost his job at a club in Springwood prior to the killing.
56Mr Munoz met the deceased in around 1990 when she was working at McDonalds. They began seeing each other on weekends, and then moved in together in his mother's home. They had five children together, and were formally married in 2005. After marriage, they had another two children. They had never been separated, apart from the months before her death. The accused and the deceased separated after he assaulted his eldest son.
57Mr Munoz has a history of drug abuse. He began smoking cannabis at age 12, and began drinking alcohol at age 16. As well, he tried other drugs, including smoking heroin and inhaling cocaine. He also used some anabolic steroids while training in his early life. He has not used any other drug for many years.
58He discontinued smoking cannabis at age 27, after his first episode of mental illness and has not consumed it since. By the time he stopped using cannabis he was smoking around 18 cones per day, beginning first thing in the morning.
59Mr Munoz was first diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1999, during a period of incarceration. He has a family history of the illness. He was first seen on 8 December 1999 by a psychiatrist, Dr Reed. He presented as perplexed and had a limited flow of thought. He had fears of going mad, believed people on television were laughing at him, he had persecutory ideas and was hallucinating. He was admitted to Long Bay Prison hospital. His reported psychotic symptoms resolved rapidly with neurological medication.
60Mr Munoz also experienced periods of severe depression. He attempted suicide in 1999 in response to hearing voices.
61On 13 August 2005, he was seen to be manifesting childlike behaviour. The deceased reported that he had bouts of aggressive behaviour since his diagnosis. He tended to drop off to sleep, have twitching in his hands and around his shoulders, and had a thickness of speech at times.
62On 15 August 2005, he was admitted to Cumberland Hospital. His thoughts were disordered, he was wandering, he was removing clothes in front of his family and was easily agitated. He had ceased taking his prescribed Risperidone several months prior. It was noted he had a low TSH and a raised T2. Risperidone was commenced and he improved within one week, however he continued to have residual negative symptoms after he was discharged on 30 August 2005.
63A letter dated 30 August 2005, noted that he had commenced on Risperidone since his hospitalisation. He had a series of tests including a CT scan, which was normal. There was evidence of thyrotoxicosis, and a laboratory endocrinology showed results consistent with hypothyroidism.
64A referral note dated 13 October 2005 noted that he had repressed behaviour, drowsiness, twitches, echolalia, inappropriate response and front lobe signs on cognitive testing. He had a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia.
65In August 2013, approximately two months before the killing, the accused discontinued Risperidone, because he felt he did not need it. At that time he was living with his wife and children at their home in Hobartville. He was working in security, a role in which he had been working for around three years. There were no performance issues or conflicts with work colleagues and his relationship with his wife was good. He did not have concerns about her fidelity, and there were no significant arguments at that time.
66After he discontinued his medication, he became more irritable and aggressive when driving, and ultimately lost his license. As a consequence of losing his license, he also lost his job. His mood deteriorated, and he spent his time looking after his children. He and his wife began to argue. He told Dr Nielssen:
"I became very aggressive ... I knew I wasn't the same ... I started arguing with my wife a lot ... the police were called a number of times ... she did not know I wasn't taking [the medication] ... I used to show her when I took it ... but I was putting it into a tissue and putting it in the bin."
67In addition to these mood changes, the accused also began to hear voices coming from the left side of his brain. He described them as demon voices, soft and male, which worsened over time. Of these voices, he stated:
"They started overpowering me ... I started doing what they wanted me to do ... telling me to kill myself and hurt other people... they also said 'kill yourself, kill yourself'."
68The accused also heard another voice on the right side of his brain, which he described as a "good voice telling me Daniel no".
69In September 2013, the accused had a fight with his eldest son, Daniel, during which he got Daniel in a headlock. He stated that at this time the voices had told him to bash Daniel. His wife rang the police, and, as previously mentioned, an AVO was issued against him, and he left the matrimonial home and went to live with his mother.
70Mr Munoz also had a confrontation with his brother. He told Dr Allnutt that it was because his brother had said something to him the wrong way. He heard voices saying "hit him, hit him". The police were not called.
71On or around 23 September 2013, the accused had an argument over the phone with the deceased. He told Dr Allnutt that after that argument the deceased slammed the phone down, but it remained off the hook and he continued to listen. He heard people snorting something and heard the deceased say, "hail Mythias". He then heard people having sexual intercourse. He described hearing the bed head banging on the bedroom wall, and heard his son Daniel and another man engaging in sexual activity, identifiable by heavy breathing. He remained on the phone for a period of 14 hours and 11 minutes.
72He told Dr Allnutt that during this time he passed the phone to his mother, she listened for a short time, and she said it was "disgusting". However, neither he nor his mother phoned the police. He stated that he did not call the police even though he could hear that his children were involved, because his "head was everywhere at the time", he was not thinking right and felt a "buzzing feeling" in his brain.
73Mr Munoz did however, return to the house at Hobartville to check for evidence of what he had heard over the phone. He checked the bed and could see where the bed had hit the wall. He stated that there were black marks on the wall and the bars of the bedhead were broken. He took photographs for evidence. At a subsequent visit a few days later, he saw the bed was changed and believed this was evidence for what he had heard.
74He told Dr Allnutt that until the telephone call he did not have thoughts regarding his wife's fidelity, however after the call he formed the view that she was prostituting herself and their three eldest children for money. Notwithstanding this, he continued to see his children on the weekends, but did not raise it with them. He could not recall discussing the matter with the deceased.
75Leading up to the killing, his mood became increasingly irritable, his sleep was restless, he lost his appetite and weight, his energy levels were diminished and he felt lethargic. He had reduced motivation, he felt poorly about himself, he was more forgetful, and had reduced capacity for pleasure. He also believed he was going to die because he developed bad pains in his stomach.
76During this period, he began to hear the voices in his head on a daily basis, saying things which tormented him. He had no sense of taste or smell but continued to see different colours. He believed the television was talking to him, and when he watched television it felt like people were staring at him with different coloured eyes. He interpreted this as something "spiritual", with the demon voices remaining on the left side of his brain when he watched television.
77Mr Munoz also changed his religion from Christianity to Islam, at some point prior to the killing. He told Dr Allnutt that having heard his wife "change to Mythias", which he said was a Prophet of a Jewish God, he met some people in Parramatta who were handing out pamphlets and spoke to him about Islam. He said they spoke a few words and "that was that".
78Both expert psychiatrists reviewed the electronically recorded interview in which the accused participated after he was arrested on the day of the killing. In that interview, he told police about his beliefs that the deceased and some of their children were participating in sexual activity in their house, and his beliefs had been confirmed by his inspection of the bed, and a conversation with one of his daughters. As recorded by Dr Allnutt, in the interview:
"[the accused] admitted that he stabbed her because of what was going on in his house, her affairs with different men and his kids having sex with he did not know who and worshipping Mythias... He was hoping to set [the deceased] free from the evil spirit that she had in her because there was life after death. He thought she would be with God because God told him to do it when he was at the house... He was in the kitchen when God spoke to him... God told him to stab her when he grabbed the knife. He could not recall how many times he stabbed her. He felt nothing at the time. God told him to keep stabbing her...When asked what God thought about the fact that he stabbed her he said "it depends which God you worship it comes down to it, it depends which God you worship" and stated that he worshipped Allah. He had been worshipping Allah for a number of months. He had turned to Islam and that in Islam they suggest if somebody does something wrong you can kill them if they have committed a great sin."
79On 23 October 2013, three days after the killing, Mr Munoz was interviewed. It was reported that he had no thoughts of self-harm, though he acknowledged he had previously had those thoughts around 1999 and 2000 when he attempted suicide. He stated that he loved his wife but did not know what was going on in the house. He was hearing generally positive female voices saying "you all right" and sometimes saw figures.
80On 25 October 2013, he was seen by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist noted that he had been previously diagnosed with psychosis within the prison environment. He restated his beliefs regarding sexual encounters in the house. He stated that he did not go to the house with the intent of killing the deceased, however he believed that in killing her he was protecting his family and there was no other option. At the time of the assessment he was dishevelled, thought to be suffering from delusions, he had poor insight and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
81He was subsequently seen on multiple occasions by the Psychiatric Registrar. On 4 November 2013, the Registrar concluded that he had a psychotic illness and a fixated paranoid belief surrounding his wife, likely of a delusional extent. He prescribed antipsychotic medication. In subsequent entries, the Registrar noted some inconsistencies in his psychotic symptoms, however he continued to prescribed antipsychotic medication.