A psychiatrist speculated that accused killer Christopher David Navin could suffer from schizophrenia soon after he was charged with the murder of Nicholas Sofer-Schreiber.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Dr Anthony Barker reported Navin had been "extremely guarded, tense, and suspicious" during a consultation at the Alexander Maconochie Centre a week after his arrest.
Dr Barker told the ACT Supreme Court on Monday that Navin continually turned and peered into a corner of the room despite there being no external stimulus in that area.
When questioned on the behaviour, he denied suffering from auditory hallucinations, the doctor said.
The court heard Dr Barker recorded in his notes his suspicions about Navin's mental state, which appeared to be confirmed a week later when the accused confided in a mental health worker that he had been hearing voices for months.
Mr Sofer-Schreiber bled to death after he was stabbed 73 times in his Lyneham home on the evening of Boxing Day 2013.
Concerned friends discovered him dead on the floor of his dining room two days later.
Navin, 29, is on trial in the ACT Supreme Court for the murder of the avid punk rock fan who was known among his friends as the Ginger Ninja.
He has pleaded not guilty due to mental impairment.
His legal team has previously admitted Navin attacked Mr Sofer-Schreiber with a small paring knife and caused his death.
The court has previously heard the men had lived together at the Hall Street townhouse after they met through their common interest in music.
Navin moved out in mid-2013 and Mr Sofer-Schreiber pursued legal action to recover the cost of damage and cleaning.
The Crown alleges the split embittered Navin, who also believed Mr Sofer-Schreiber had worked to ostracise him from their common friends.
It is alleged Navin became angry and murdered Mr Sofer-Schreiber in revenge.
The court continued to hear evidence of Navin's mental state as the trial entered its third week on Monday.
The court heard the occupational therapist, who worked with Navin in the months after he was locked up, had been the first person to whom the accused disclosed his psychotic symptoms.
She said Navin had told her of hearing several male voices for around four to nine months.
He told her the voices sometimes yelled at him and gave him orders, which he had to obey or he would experience feelings of dread.
The therapist said Navin had believed others had put dreams in his head and felt his thoughts could be read.
She told the court that Navin continued to report psychotic symptoms, with reduced intensity, for months after he was locked up and placed on a psychiatric treatment order.
The trial continues.
