17 He said that he developed that interrogation by actually "accusing" the victim, as he put it, by just asking her over and over again whether she had "done it". The victim, apparently, reacted much as one might have thought normal in the face of such an approach by her companion of the evening. She asked him why he was asking her such questions; and after some exchanges of the kind which I have thus far described, the two of them left the Star City premises and went back to the accused's then home.
18 What happened when they got back to the home was really an extension of what had happened at Star City, but in a much more intense form, and with much more terrible practical consequences, as events unfolded. As the accused himself put it, - see question and answer 128 and following - , "...I just wouldn't drop the subject..." and then "...I just fully believed that she did it. So I started accusing her, saying, Look you did it, just tell me, tell me--".
19 What then happened is described in all necessary detail in the answer to question 132 which reads:
"A. It was like, I just kept at it, accusing her. I'm trying to remember, she said, No I didn't, but it was like, I believed it so bad, I tried to get her to confess it and I was like, Tell me Lisa, I've gotta know, I said, Listen if you've done it, tell me. I grabbed her by the shirt. I got her on the couch and I said, Tell me, did you do it? She said to me, she wouldn't answer me. I said, Fuck Lisa, did you do it? She wouldn't answer me and I just kept going. I grabbed her in a headlock, I had to hold her down and I said, Lisa, tell me, tell me, tell me. She wouldn't say anything, she wouldn't say anything. Then I believe like she was being stubborn, like you know she was being stubborn, she didn't want to say nothin'. 'Cause I thought, you know, if you didn't even do it, you'd say, Yeah, I did it, I did it, let me go, let me go. She wasn't saying anything, so I grabbed her in the headlock, kept her down and then I started saying, Please Lisa, just tell me, tell me. I believed that I knew and she didn't say anything. We kept going for probably around twenty minutes and I choked her. I had her in a headlock, choked her, stopped her breathing and I killed her."
20 The accused went on to describe, in detail which it is not now necessary to repeat, the nature of the headlock and how he had applied it. He gave a practical demonstration of that action on the video of the interview, which video I have myself seen in Court this morning.
21 It is convenient to pause at that point to say the following things: I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the death of the victim; and that the cause of her death was strangulation. The autopsy report which forms part of Exhibit B would itself be sufficient, in my opinion, to establish at least those foundational matters, and to establish them beyond reasonable doubt.
22 I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that it was, in the most precise particular, and direct sense, an act of the accused, or more precisely a series of interconnected acts of the accused, that was or were causative of that death by strangulation of the victim. I have not the slightest doubt that the version given by the accused in his record of interview was not some delusional confabulation, but describes with complete accuracy what, in fact, happened on the relevant occasion to bring about the death of the victim.
23 There remains the element of intent. Once again, as it seems to me, all that needs to be said in that regard is said by the accused himself in further answers given to further questions in the record of interview. In his answer to question 150 the accused described his reasoning and his attitudes and, indeed, his motivations as follows:
"A. In the beginning like I was scaring her. I scared her, I grabbed her by the throat, I was scaring her, like confess to me, because I believed it so much. I scared the girl and then we were on the floor and in the end I grabbed her in a headlock, I'm saying, Tell me Lisa, tell me Lisa, and I sort of believed that it was something I had to do. Then too late, I, after that I tried to revive her again."
24 In the immediately following answer, to question 151:
"A. I dunno, there was like conversation going on and I was trying to tell her, confess, stop being stubborn, stop being stubborn. It was like on and off, I'd let her go and I'd come back and I tried to get her to confess and it was just like, I didn't, I believed like she did something. I didn't even want to kill her, but I believe like I had to...".
25 Still later, and in his answer to question 176, the accused explained that he had held the victim in the headlock, of which I have earlier spoken, for a period which he, the accused, thought to have been a period of about five minutes. He said:
"...I would release her a bit, I would say, Lisa, tell me, I don't want to do it, and I just believed I had to do it in the end, yeah."
26 I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, and I would say well satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, that the accused, at the time he strangled the victim in the way that I have described, had either an intent then to kill her, or at the very least an intent to inflict upon her grievous bodily harm; and either intent suffices for the crime of murder.
27 On the basis of what I have said thus far, I have come to the conclusion that leaving aside for the moment any question of special defence, the Crown has proved amply, and beyond reasonable doubt, each and every one of the material ingredients necessary to constitute in law the crime of murder.
28 I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a special verdict, leaving apart for the moment a verdict of guilty as charged, would be an appropriate verdict. It becomes, thereupon, necessary to return to those statutory provisions of which I earlier spoke.
29 The three sections of the Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act 1990 read as follows: and I propose to take a few moments to read them so that those who are in Court trying to follow what I am saying, but who are not trained lawyers, will at least have some assistance to that end.
30 Section 37 provides as follows:
"37. If, on the trial of a person charged with an offence, a question is raised as to whether the person was, at the time of commission of the offence, mentally ill as referred to in section 38, the Court must explain to the jury the findings which may be made on the trial and the legal and practical consequences of those findings and must include in its explanation:
(a) a reference to the existence and composition of the Mental Health Review Tribunal constituted under the Mental Health Act 1990; and
(b) a reference to the relevant functions of that Tribunal with respect to forensic patients within the meaning of that Act, including a reference to the requirements of that Act that the Tribunal may make a recommendation for the release of a person detained in accordance with section 39 only if the Tribunal is satisfied, on the evidence available to it, that the safety of the person or any member of the public will not be seriously endangered by the person's release."
31 Section 38 is the section that provides in a substantive way for the return of a special verdict of not guilty by reason of mental illness. The section so provides in the following terms:
"38. If, in an indictment or information, an act or omission is charged against a person as an offence and it is given in evidence on the trial of the person for the offence that the person was mentally ill, so as not to be responsible, according to law, for his or her action at the time when the act was done or omission made, then, if it appears to the jury before which the person is tried that the person did the act or made the omission charged, but was mentally ill at the time when the person did or made the same, the jury must return a special verdict that the accused person is not guilty by reason of mental illness."
32 It is convenient to pause and to draw attention to one or two matters particular to section 38. It will be observed that a special verdict of not guilty cannot be returned in terms of section 38 unless there is a foundational finding, properly made, that the accused person was "mentally ill, so as not to be responsible, according to law, for his or her action at the time when the act was done...".
33 There is no definition in the Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act 1990 of mental illness, but there is an extensive definition of that term in the Mental Health Act 1990. I am satisfied that the Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act 1990 should be understood, so far as concerns any need to define the notion of "mental illness", as having incorporated into it the definition of "mental illness" which is to be found in the Mental Health Act 1990.
34 That definition is, of course, of critical importance for present purposes, and it provides as follows:
"Mental illness means a condition which seriously impairs, either temporarily or permanently, the mental functioning of a person and is characterised by the presence in the person of any one or more of the following symptoms:
(a) delusions,
(b) hallucinations,
(c) serious disorder of thought form,
(d) a severe disturbance of mood,
(e) sustained or repeated irrational behaviour indicating the presence of any one or more of the symptoms referred to in paragraphs (a)-(d)."
35 The other aspect of section 38, to which attention might be drawn at once is this: that mental illness having been established in fact, the jury, if there is one, "must" return the special verdict that the accused is not guilty by reason of mental illness. That is to say, the tribunal of fact at a trial in which mental illness has been found established, does not have a choice in the matter of verdict. Mental illness in the relevant sense having been properly proved, there must be a special verdict of the kind for which provision is made in section 38.
36 It is convenient to round out the present discussion, by drawing attention to the terms of section 39 which are as follows:
"39. If, on the trial of a person charged with an offence, the jury returns a special verdict that the accused person is not guilty by reason of mental illness, the Court must order that the person be detained in strict custody in such place and in such manner as the Court thinks fit until released by due process of law."
37 Were this trial proceeding with a jury it would be necessary for me, as the presiding Judge, to charge the jury carefully and precisely as to the relevant law concerning the special defence of mental illness, and concerning the requirements of the law as to the returning in a proper case of a special verdict of not guilty by reason of mental illness.
38 As I am in this trial both the judge of the law and in the absence of a jury, the judge of the facts, it is necessary that I, as it were, charge myself as I would charge a jury in accordance with the various matters of law and of fact that arise relevantly by reason of sections 37, 38 and 39, as I have earlier quoted and discussed them.