A mentally ill Canberra man who strangled his mother to death, believing she was possessed by the devil, has been found not guilty because of mental impairment.
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Gabor Laszlo Aranyi, 33, lived an isolated life and was almost totally dependent on his mother, Hungarian-born Ottilia Aranyi, 75.
The pair had lived together in the mother’s Yarralumla home, where she helped her son seek care and treatment for his severe mental health problems.
He suffered delusions of grandeur and persecution, hallucinations and serious disturbances of thought, all consistent with paranoid schizophrenia.
Aranyi’s delusions led him to believe he was a ‘‘messenger of God’’ doing God’s bidding and that the mother who had cared and housed him for most his life was ‘‘possessed by the devil’’.
His delusions were fuelled by cues such as the colour of his mother’s car, seeing the 666 ABC Canberra frequency displayed on the radio, the shapes of the clouds and the belief he could influence events, both human and natural.
On April 2 Aranyi strangled his mother, leaving her dead on the kitchen floor, where she lay for almost seven hours until an ambulance was called.
The killing occurred after an argument about 2pm, which began after Mrs Aranyi tried to make her son go to an appointment with Woden mental health services.
He refused and tried to avoid his mother by going into the bathroom. She pulled him by the arm but he refused to go.
About 15 minutes later, Aranyi went into the kitchen. She followed him, trying to push him out.
He grabbed her with both arms, wrapping his hands around her neck. He tripped her, forcing her to fall to the kitchen floor.
He kept the pressure on his mother’s neck until she stopped breathing.
Aranyi then walked away and had a shower.
Some time later, Aranyi came back to his mother’s dead body and placed a pillow under her head. Almost seven hours later he called an ambulance and paramedics alerted police when they found Mrs Aranyi’s body.
Aranyi, 33, appeared before acting Justice John Nield in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon, represented by barrister James Sabharwal.
He formally entered a plea of not guilty by way of mental impairment to the charge of murder, whispering as he spoke to the court.
Justice Nield ruled the matter could be dealt with by a judge alone, although murder generally must be dealt with in a trial by jury.
Once that ruling was made, acting Justice Nield delivered a special verdict, declaring Aranyi not guilty of murder due to mental impairment.
He found that Aranyi was unable to distinguish between right and wrong when he strangled his mother and that he was not in control of his actions.
Those findings were made on the basis of several reports and assessments by mental health experts.
The court heard the strangulation might have been the result of Aranyi’s long-standing feelings of resentment and anger towards his mother through his delusional beliefs.
Acting Justice Nield said a verdict of not guilty because of mental impairment was the ‘‘only appropriate verdict’’ and ordered that Aranyi be detained until the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered otherwise.
Acting Justice Nield indicated that Aranyi would have gone to jail had the special not-guilty verdict not been handed down.
The court is also required to indicate what sentence it would have imposed should Aranyi have been found guilty.
That will occur later this month, to allow the Crown and defence time to submit further evidence and submissions to the court.
The matter will be back before court on August 21.