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[2021] WASC 47
General information, not legal advice.
Supreme Court of WA
2021-02-24
Quinlan CJ
Original judgment source is linked above.
(This judgment was delivered extemporaneously on 15 February 2021 and has been edited from the transcript to include, in endnotes, references to relevant law and evidence.)
I certify that the preceding paragraphs comprise the reasons for decision of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Principal Associate to the Honourable Chief Justice Quinlan
[5] State's Summary of Material Facts (Exhibit 6) [97] ‑ [101].
Post‑mortem report of Dr White, Forensic Pathologist dated 11 July 2019 (Exhibit 9A) together with photographs of the injuries to Michelle Petersen (Exhibit 9B).
Post‑mortem report of Dr White, Forensic Pathologist dated 13 July 2019 (Exhibit 10A) together with photographs of the injuries to Bella Petersen (Exhibit 10B).
Post‑mortem report of Dr White, Forensic Pathologist dated 13 July 2019 (Exhibit 11A) together with photographs of the injuries to Rua Petersen‑Tauranga (Exhibit 11B).
Report of Dr Steven Patchett, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, dated 26 August 2020 (Exhibit 16), pages 15 ‑ 16.
In my opinion, Mr Petersen‑Crofts presents with symptoms consistent with a severe and enduring mental illness, namely Schizophrenia, with residual positive psychotic symptoms consisting of auditory and visual hallucinations and delusions. In Mr Petersen‑Crofts's case, this illness was diagnosed on the basis of the prolonged presence of hallucinations and delusions. The illness is treatment resistant in that he continues to experience symptoms despite treatment with clozapine and mood stabilisers. Even during my last interview with him on 11 January 2021, he experienced command auditory hallucinations in keeping with those that he had consistently reported at the time of his alleged offending.
My first opinion was that Mr Petersen‑Crofts has a psychiatric illness which is treatment‑resistant schizophrenia. ...
Now, two and a half years later, after - after the index event, Mr Petersen‑Crofts still exhibited both positive and negative symptoms. He still had hallucinations, he still had delusions. Now, this was despite treatment with the gold standard of treatment in schizophrenia which is a medication called Clozapine, which is used for difficult to treat treatment‑resistant schizophrenia. Therefore, my opinion was ... treatment‑resistant schizophrenia.
Mr Petersen‑Crofts has a very serious mental illness, Paranoid Schizophrenia.
Are you able to comment upon the symptoms and etiology of paranoid schizophrenia as it relates to Mr Petersen‑Crofts?---Yes. Just going back we heard from Dr de Klerk an excellent description of schizophrenia. The combination of positive symptoms and negative symptoms and the positive symptoms being the ones that really relate to unsoundness of mind. But they - they essentially are psychosis although there can be changes in feelings as well and psychosis generally is three things. It's hallucinations, delusions and thought disorder, all of which he has.
[12] Bundle of medical evidence and medical reports in relation to the accused (Exhibit 14).
Report of Dr de Klerk dated 18 January 2021 (Exhibit 15), pages 3 ‑ 4 [24] ‑ [38].
Report of Dr Patchett dated 26 August 2020 (Exhibit 16), pages 2 ‑ 6.
Mr Petersen‑Crofts is extremely unwell. Extremely unwell. And that goes right back to the age of 14 or he was actually under 15 when he first presented to Princess Margaret Hospital - to Invercargill Hospital and then Princess Margaret Hospital. And - and his father and I - I realise it's a second‑hand or hearsay explanation, but his father explains how unwell he was just one day and then went onto the beach and it's in - it's in the reports, but was evangelous. He - he was an evangelical person who was attempting to - to spread the word - the word of the lord and was aggressive and loud and noisy about that. But - but Mr Petersen‑Crofts gave a very excellent example of how he was perplexed that he just was standing for long periods of time and just looking at things and I believe that was the beginning of a psychosis.
And it's well known in - in psychiatry that the earlier you develop psychosis, the worse the prognosis is and this is a very early onset I believe. And then the subsequent admission and there are excellent medical records that describe the phenomena of that admission and the same sorts of things that we've observed and we've heard from Dr de Klerk and I've got in my reports through the years, remarkably consistent. Mother earth has always played a part in that.
[13] Report of Dr de Klerk dated 18 January 2021 (Exhibit 15), pages 11 ‑ 12 [94], [104]:
Mr Petersen‑Crofts experienced impaired mental functioning preceding the alleged offending. He was experiencing command visual and auditory hallucinations and bizarre and persecutory delusions. ...
From the information available, it is clear that Mr Petersen‑Crofts experienced psychotic symptoms at the time of the alleged offending. He spoke about serial killers, he experienced command auditory hallucinations to kill his family members and to tell others about this. He also experienced bizarre, religious and persecutory delusions about being killed. Furthermore, Mr Petersen‑Crofts described that it was impossible to resist these commands.
So in relation to that nexus, what observations did you make?---I formed the impression that Mr Petersen‑Crofts' mental illness was directly causatively linked to the index offence.
...
How were you able to do that?---Both by talking with him about his mental state around the time of the - of the index offence and also reading the hospital admission notes that was taken down comprehensively on his admission.
Report of Dr Patchett dated 26 August 2020 (Exhibit 16), page 17:
With regard to mental state at the time of the alleged offence, Mr Petersen‑Crofts has described remarkably consistent auditory hallucinations and delusions throughout his admission to the Frankland Centre. When seen acutely, around 36 hours after the incident, he described florid hallucinations and delusions to Dr Tate and Dr Walker and was significantly thought disordered. His initial psychotic disorganisation and thought disorder prevented him from accurately describing his experiences and how they affected his decisions to act as he did but with time and treatment he has become consistently clear in explaining how his mental illness affected his decisions at the time.
[14] Report of Dr de Klerk dated 18 January 2021 (Exhibit 15), page 10 [90]:
His regular use of cannabis and methylamphetamine also satisfies the diagnostic criteria for Cannabis Use Disorder and Stimulant (amphetamine type) Disorder, both in sustained remission in a controlled environment.
Report of Dr Patchett dated 26 August 2020 (Exhibit 16), page 15.
[I]n this case you did refer to your diagnosis of Mr Petersen‑Crofts including substance use disorder but as I understand your report, the psychosis that he was experiencing at the times that you've spoken of in your evidence was not due to intoxication from substances he having not, as I understand it, shown any evidence of intoxication at that time?---I - your Honour, I - I pointed that out in my report. The emergency doctor that discharged Mr Petersen‑Crofts specifically made a note that he did not appear to be affected by substances. A blood test that was performed not many hours after the alleged offending excluded the presence of substances there. Now, I say again Mr Petersen‑Crofts' symptoms have been consistent in nature for the four years before the index offence and indeed continues.
[16] Report of Dr de Klerk dated 18 January 2021 (Exhibit 15), page 13 [113]:
I do however believe that Mr Petersen‑Crofts did not have the capacity to control his actions due to the intensity of his persecutory delusions, the belief that he could not resist the commands of auditory hallucinations, and the presence of passivity symptoms (the belief that your actions are controlled by an external force).
Report of Dr Patchett dated 26 August 2020 (Exhibit 16), page 17:
I do believe that it is likely that Mr Petersen‑Crofts was deprived of the capacity to control his actions when he attacked his family members with a knife. He had described experiencing delusions of control in the weeks leading up to the killings. He has repeatedly explained that he felt strongly compelled to carry out the 'instructions' of the voice of Mother Earth. He said 'it was like a religion, their word was gospel' and the voice kept saying 'you gotta do it. You gotta do it'.
[17] Report of Dr de Klerk dated 18 January 2021 (Exhibit 15), page 13 [105]:
It is my opinion that the religious and persecutory content of his delusions, his fear that his family would kill him, and that 4 billion people would die as well as his preoccupation with a serial killer are likely to have constituted a causal link between his symptoms of schizophrenia and the resulting alleged offending.
In relation to the second capacity, the capacity to control one's actions, what is your expert opinion?---My opinion is that he did not have the capacity to control his actions as a result of what was overwhelming command divine hallucinations and also in combination with this feeling that he's - he felt that his body and his actions were controlled by an outside entity.
[Y]our Honour, just to expand on that it's - it's very clear - I - I call it the polymorphous psychosis. It's very clear that he had hallucinations for a lot of different sources and - and including in the early days from - from his - from his Maori heritage in New Zealand from the entities Papa and - and Rangi, the earth - the sky - the - the mother earth and the sky father. And, of course, later in the Princess Margaret admission he talks - and I'm not sure if that's a misinterpretation but 'Mummy in the sky'. ... But - but - but I - there are so many different themes to his hallucinations and his delusions and it's - and again it's a reflection of just how psychotic he - he was I believe.
FARLEY, MS: And can those different themes all co‑exist - - -?---Yes, yes. - - - in the one delusional state?---Yes.
And - and what is your view in terms of Mr Petersen‑Crofts as - as to that? There are a number of themes that run through?---Yes. And they can - you'll notice how for example even mother earth says he's going to be killed and then, 'Kill your mother and your sister and your brother'. The - the - they'll even say different things at different times. [Nobody] knows why that happens although we understand it's a major disturbance of neurotransmission in the brain. Neurotransmitters in the brain are the underlying neurophysiological basis for psychosis and - and schizophrenia. ...But - but I talk about a number of themes through his delusions and to his hallucinations. They just in my view go to just how seriously unwell he has been for all of that time....
I believe hallucinations likewise and ... the polymorphous element to those, ... seem to attach to a whole bunch of themes really. There's a whole bunch of deities that he's talked about but the consistent one is mother earth and it's her that influenced, in my belief on - on that night.
[H]allucinations are - and I - and I stress this all the time, they're not imagination. It's not a disorder of imagination, it's a disorder of perception. So just as my voice is coming across both in through your ears into your brain, a hallucination sounds like that. You can't differentiate it between my voice and, you know, if I weren't here somebody else sitting here talking about that.
[19] R v Porter [1933] HCA 1; (1933) 55 CLR 182, 189 ‑ 190 (Dixon J).
[20] Report of Dr de Klerk dated 18 January 2021 (Exhibit 15), page 13 [114]:
I am of the opinion that Mr Petersen‑Crofts also did not know that he ought not do the act of killing his mother and siblings, again due to the nature and severity of the symptoms (specifically divine command hallucinations and his mind being controlled) of his long‑standing psychotic illness.
In relation to the third capacity, the capacity to know that he ought not do the act or make the admission, what is your expert opinion?---My opinion is that he - he did not know that he ought not to do the act and I base that on much - on much the same history that I elicited in the second limb. When one's god orders you to do something it is very difficult to resist and especially if the act is to preserve your own life and I - I - I do - my expert opinion is that he did not know that he ought not to do that because he was ordered by his god.
Report of Dr Patchett dated 26 August 2020 (Exhibit 16), page 18:
I am of the opinion that there is compelling evidence from a psychiatric perspective that Mr Petersen‑Crofts was deprived of the capacity to know he ought not do the acts of stabbing his mother, sister and half brother which resulted in their deaths. He was suffering from psychosis at the time, characterised by delusions and hallucinations, that led him to believe an alternative reality existed in which he must carry out the acts he did in order to save the world and his own life.
He believed he had to. He believed it was right to do.
QUINLAN CJSC: And is it fair to say that at least in Mr Petersen‑Crofts' case in your opinion the two capacities that you've referred to are the inability to control actions to know he not - he ought not to do the action are related because the compulsion under the control is that this act is the right thing to do which I ought to do?---Yes. It's a - - -
And so there's a - - -?---Exactly.
Within the confines of the delusion a moral imperative to do it?---Yes. Yes, that's correct, your Honour, that's a very important point. Yes. So that he believes an alternative reality existed and - and totally believed that. That - that led him to the - the acts that resulted in the offences - in these offences.
It is also clear that he has never received adequate nor sustained antipsychotic treatment since first becoming unwell at the age of 14/15 years old. His disorder has been characterised by prominent positive symptoms; hallucinations; delusions and thought disorder and compounded by pronounced lack of insight. He has also very often presented with marked agitation and aggression which contaminated his relationships and attachments to family and supports. As a result of these factors he has never adequately engaged with mental health services and has been sub‑optimally treated for the past six to seven years. He has routinely failed to engage with community follow up after every admission he has had.
Significantly, it is apparent that Mr Petersen‑Crofts had no treatment at all for the six months leading up to the alleged offences, from the time he left WA to live with his father in Queensland at the end of January 2018, until the incident on 14/15 July 2018.
(2000) 23 WAR 254
(1933) 55 CLR 182