A man who intentionally ran down a cyclist and a runner in Yarralumla last year will be dealt with under Canberra's mental health laws in an administrative tribunal, a judge has ruled.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Chief Justice Helen Murrell on Tuesday entered a special verdict of not guilty by reason of mental impairment for the charges of attempted murder and culpable driving.
Ashley Paul Kelly, 34, was detained in custody for immediate review by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal under the territory's mental health laws
She also ordered he spend no more than seven years in prison, including the time he has already served in custody since his arrest in June last year, for the offences.
The case was unusual as the prosecution had earlier accepted the plea rather than the usual course of taking the matter to trial.
Chief Justice Murrell set the maximum custodial term for the attempted murder of the runner at six years and the culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm to the cyclist at two years and six months imprisonment.
"There is no doubt that, when the accused drove his vehicle at [the runner], he intended to kill him," Chief Justice Murrell said.
"Nor is there any doubt that, when the accused drove his vehicle at [the cyclist], he was driving in a manner that was grossly negligent.
"On the balance of probabilities, I accept that, in the period leading up to and at the time of the offences, the accused was suffering from a mental impairment."
On Monday the court heard two psychiatrists agreed Mr Kelly had been psychotic at the time and had not known his conduct was wrong and had not been able to control it.
The man's fate will now be decided by the tribunal, which will determine if he will be imprisoned and, if so, how much of the seven years he will serve.
The process is to avoid a potentially unfair result that a mentally ill person is kept in custody longer than they would have been were they not unwell.
Early in the morning on June 4 last year, Mr Kelly deliberately drove his purple Daihatsu Pyzar at the two men in two separate incidents on Alexandrina Drive in a short amount of time.
The injuries to both victims were serious; to the runner they were catastrophic.
Doctors had to perform life-saving surgery on the man's brain which was bleeding on both sides. The court had earlier heard he is unlikely to ever regain full cognitive function.
The judge ordered Mr Kelly be detained in custody for immediate review by the tribunal under mental health laws.
