A SCHIZOPHRENIC man who fatally stabbed a stranger at a Perth bus stop has been found not guilty of murder on insanity grounds and will remain in a psychiatric facility.
Ben William Cedric Daly, 30, admitted stabbing father of two Ian Michael Baz Bosch, 43, once in the neck in Coolbellup in November 2016, but claimed he had no memory of the attack, which was captured on CCTV.
Daly argued during his West Australian Supreme Court trial that he was not guilty of murder due to unsoundness of mind, and on Tuesday Justice Joseph McGrath handed down his judgment in agreement.
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READ NOWThe court heard during the trial that Daly had been a paranoid schizophrenic since the age of 21.
Forensic psychiatrist Victoria Pascu said Daly heard voices and believed angels were communicating with him to help him identify pedophiles.
She said he reported only remembering leaving home through his bedroom window and returning.
He did not know what he did in the meantime and people suffering his kind of mental illness sometimes had “black holes” in their memory, Dr Pascu explained.
She said Daly believed his “job” was to be recruited by bikies “to save the kids”.