Queensland Judgments
Authorised Reports & Unreported Judgments
Exit Distraction Free Reading Mode
  • Unreported Judgment

In the matter of John Bernard Zarnke[2017] QMHC 5

In the matter of John Bernard Zarnke[2017] QMHC 5

 

MENTAL HEALTH COURT

 

CITATION:

In the matter of John Bernard Zarnke [2017] QMHC 5

PROCEEDING:

Reference

DELIVERED ON:

11 July 2017

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATES:

4 and 5 April 2017

JUDGE:

Dalton J

ASSISTING PSYCHIATRISTS:

Dr JG Reddan and

Dr C Gray

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW – INSANITY – UNSOUNDNESS OF MIND – DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY

DETERMINATIONS:

  1. In relation to the assault or obstruct police charge, 28 September 2014, I can make no finding as to soundness of mind.
  2. In relation to all other offences before the Court I find that the defendant was not of unsound mind, at the time of the offending.
  3. In relation to the charge of murder, 10 February 2015, the defendant was of diminished responsibility at the time of the offending, and may be tried for manslaughter only, not murder.
  4. The defendant is fit for trial.
  5. With the qualification at paragraph 3 above, all charges are to proceed according to law.

APPEARANCES:

JD Briggs on behalf of Mr Zarnke

J Tate for the Director of Mental Health

D Balic for the Director of Public Prosecutions

SOLICITORS:

Legal Aid Queensland for Mr Zarnke

Crown Law for the Director of Mental Health

The Director of Public Prosecutions (Qld)

  1. [1]
    Mr Zarnke faces several charges referred to this Court.  The most serious is a charge of murder in relation to the killing of his aunt’s de facto husband, Brett James Bell, on 10 February 2015.  
  2. [2]
    Before dealing with the substance of this reference I will make the comment that this is another of the increasing number of references this Court sees involving very serious offending which is the result of drug use, and prolonged drug use.  In each of these cases the evidence before the Court is to the effect that psychosis is brought about by drug use (both cannabis and amphetamine),[1] and that the effects of long-term drug use (both cannabis and amphetamine) have permanent and irreversible effects on the brain, including effects which can be seen on imaging.[2]  Further, that once a person has suffered psychosis as a result of amphetamine or cannabis use, that psychosis will not necessarily resolve quickly, but may last years;[3] will re-occur, and recur, in the case of amphetamine use, when only very small amounts of amphetamines are consumed,[4] and may re-occur even if there is no further drug use.[5]

Charge of Murder

  1. [3]
    The Queensland Ambulance Service was called at 3.44 am on 10 February 2015.  They found Mr Zarnke’s victim dead and he could not be revived.  The police witness statements show that at approximately 1.30 am Mr Zarnke had arrived at his aunt’s address, appeared very paranoid, stating that he was being poisoned.  He left the house and returned approximately two hours later at 3.30 am.  Mr Zarnke was heard accusing the deceased man of poisoning him.  Soon after this, the victim was heard pleading for his life.  Witnesses described the defendant lunging towards the victim with a knife and stabbing him several times, even persisting after the victim tried to take refuge under a motor vehicle.  Mr Zarnke was very aggressive at the time; he could be described as in a rage.[6]  Mr Zarnke was then observed to flee from the scene.  He was located shortly before midnight in Beaudesert, arrested and transferred to the watchhouse.
  2. [4]
    Dr Darren Neillie.  I have a report from Dr Darren Neillie dated 30 June 2015 pursuant to s 238 of the Mental Health Act 2000.  Dr Neillie was Mr Zarnke’s treating psychiatrist between 12 February 2015 and 19 April 2015.  Dr Neillie describes Mr Zarnke as a 35 year old man (dob 16.2.1980) with a fairly fragmented and disrupted childhood, including time in foster care.  Significantly Mr Zarnke reported, “chasing my mum up the street with a butcher’s knife trying to stab her” at age seven.  Further, he describes that he began using cannabis from age 11 and LSD from the age of 14.  At 14 he was admitted to a hospital in Hobart because, “I went nuts … tried to stab my brother through the door of the bathroom.”  After release from hospital Mr Zarnke lived with foster carers and then on the street.  He described two suicide attempts in his late teens, but then some employment as a glazier and fixing electronic devices in his early 20s. 
  3. [5]
    Mr Zarnke’s history is of “heavy constant” marijuana use since age 11 up until an admission to Logan Mental Health Unit in September 2014.  It appears that Mr Zarnke’s mental state was one of episodic psychotic illness associated with drug use until this admission in September 2014, when it appears that paranoid schizophrenia can be diagnosed. 
  4. [6]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Neillie that he was abstinent from marijuana for two to three months after discharge from Logan Mental Health Unit in October 2014.  But, he said, from December 2014 he began smoking 3.5 grams of marijuana per day.  Although he used a variety of drugs in his youth, Mr Zarnke said he used marijuana only, from age 21 onwards.  He said he also smoked between 30 to 50 tobacco cigarettes per day and drank between six and 12 pre-mix cans of alcoholic spirits most days.
  5. [7]
    Mr Zarnke said that he began using methamphetamine in August 2014, drinking, smoking and injecting it.  From September 2014 he said he was using regularly about once every two weeks.  He said he borrowed $8,000 from his mother and bought methamphetamine with it.  He said he spent a thousand dollars every four days to buy four points of methamphetamine, using one point per day. 
  6. [8]
    I might say this story makes little sense to me.  I regularly receive evidence in the criminal courts that a point of methamphetamine costs about $100.  I note that one witness statement, from Mr Zarnke’s ex-de facto, was to the effect that, as at mid-September 2014, Mr Zarnke was using methamphetamine about 12 times a day.  I must say I regard Mr Zarnke’s reports of his drug use as unreliable and as minimising his use.  Mr Zarnke was so unwell at the time of his arrest that no blood or urine samples could be obtained – he was too dangerous – t 1-44.  However, these samples were obtained once he was admitted to the High Secure Unit at The Park (12 February 2015).  The results are discussed below.  I prefer to rely on these than anything Mr Zarnke had to say about his drug use immediately prior to the offending.
  7. [9]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Neillie that 10 days before the killing he was feeling extremely paranoid and stopped using pot and methamphetamine altogether.  However, he said he drank half a point of ice three or four days before 10 February 2015.
  8. [10]
    Psychiatric history immediately prior to killing.  Mr Zarnke was taken by police to the Logan Mental Health Unit on 19 September 2014.  He had been threatening people with a baseball bat at his children’s school.  He had set up dashboard cameras and recorded number plates of cars he believed were following him.  He was admitted under an ITO.  He required seclusion due to aggression.  He was diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis and discharged home to his mother on 23 September 2014.
  9. [11]
    Six days later police took him to another hospital because he had received three police cautions over a 24 hour period.  He was diagnosed with amphetamine intoxication and discharged home. 
  10. [12]
    On 15 October 2014 Mr Zarnke presented to a public hospital on referral by his GP for assessment for presumed psychosis.  He asked for assistance to stop using alcohol and drugs and was discharged on 17 October 2014.  He presented back at the Emergency Department of the same hospital two days later complaining of anxiety, depression, paranoia, auditory hallucinations and suicidal thoughts.  He described persecutory delusions.  He described an incident in which he was driving about following his girlfriend’s voice until stopped by police due to erratic driving (see the charge at [90] below).  At this stage he was homeless.  He was admitted for two weeks (between 20 October 2014 and 3 November 2014) on an involuntary treatment order and antipsychotic drugs were commenced.  It was reported that all psychotic and mood symptoms resolved fully.
  11. [13]
    He was discharged under a community ITO, which he challenged (unsuccessfully) in the MHRT on 25 November 2014.  On 11 December 2014 an Authority to Return was issued on family reports of increased paranoia and aggressiveness, including threats to kill.  Police returned Mr Zarnke to a mental health service on 5 January 2015 pursuant to this authority.  He said he had not been complying with his medication.  Nonetheless he presented as settled and his aunt corroborated this, so he was discharged to her care.
  12. [14]
    He was reviewed as an outpatient on 13 January and 29 January 2015 and was found to be irritable, restless and hostile, with evidence of poor self-care.  He continued to report persecutory and self-referential delusions, including that he was being poisoned, auditory hallucinations of his neighbours talking about him and an inability to sleep due to a thousand eyes on him.  He was commenced on Quetiapine, which he apparently did not take.  The plan was to review him on 17 February 2015.
  13. [15]
    Mental state on arrest.  On 11 February 2015 the Forensic Mental Health Service noted that Mr Zarnke had been unco-operative and violent to police on arrival at the watchhouse.  He assaulted the Forensic Medical Officer.  He insisted on attending hospital because he said he had arsenic and cyanide in his blood which would kill him within nine hours.  He refused food, fluid and medical intervention. 
  14. [16]
    Dr Kovacevic, a psychiatrist, assessed Mr Zarnke on 11 February 2015.  He was hostile, aggressive and yelling.  Dr Kovacevic thought he was acutely psychotic.  He was talking about being poisoned and having arsenic and cyanide in his body.  He thought that his cell blanket was covered in selenium and pushed it out of the cell under the door.  Mr Zarnke accused Dr Kovacevic of reading his mind, setting him up, and wanting to kill him.  He asked to be taken to hospital because he was having a brain haemorrhage.
  15. [17]
    Observations at High Secure.  Mr Zarnke arrived at the High Secure In-patient Service at Wacol on 12 February 2015.  He was labile, agitated and formally thought-disordered at times.  He stated he had last used one point of methamphetamine a week beforehand.  He expressed a range of paranoid delusions and described auditory hallucinations.  He made various accusations of various different poisons entering his body in various ways and described many physical symptoms he said resulted from having been poisoned.  He said he had seen his feet turning black in the watch-house and the police had sat on him “to squeeze the blackness out”.  Mr Zarnke reported hearing voices and that people could read his thoughts.  He could hear ordinary people talking about him. 
  16. [18]
    He said he could not recall killing Brett.[7]  He said he hoped he had not, as Brett was his friend.  He said he had been delirious for the last three or four days and sleeping rough in his car, not eating, not drinking and not sleeping. 
  17. [19]
    Mr Zarnke was dishevelled, malodorous and had bruises and skin abrasions on his hands, arms, legs and “large de-roofed blisters on the balls of both feet” so that he had difficulty walking.  He asserted that the deceased man had been “definitely poisoning me”.  He accused the police and the watch-house doctor of trying to poison him “with a blank piece of paper”. 
  18. [20]
    Mr Zarnke’s mental state began improving in late February.  He said that on the day before the killing he had challenged the victim because “he was recording me with his phone” and sending the recordings to the police.  He said he recalled arriving at his aunt’s house distressed, convinced he was being poisoned, and speaking to the deceased man outside the home, but after that all he remembered was leaving in a car, and “coming to” in a car in Beaudesert “with police pointing guns at me”. 
  19. [21]
    As his mental health improved, Mr Zarnke became “preoccupied with remorse for his friend’s death” and grief at other consequences of his offending – missing his children grow up and concern for the children of the deceased man. 
  20. [22]
    He said that he had found messages on the deceased man’s phone which proved that the deceased man had set him up for a reward of $50,000.  This apparently had something to do with outlaw motorcycle gangs and security cameras in various places.  He continued to complain about being poisoned and continued to report physical symptoms which he said were a consequence of poisoning.  His auditory hallucinations declined, although they seemed to reappear when he was stressed (visit from lawyer; transfer to a different unit within High Secure).
  21. [23]
    In May Mr Zarnke still insisted that he was being poisoned; thought that bikies would kill him, his children and his ex-partner, and reported command hallucinations to hurt copatients.
  22. [24]
    By the time of Dr Neillie’s report Mr Zarnke was able to identify voices, including these command hallucinations, as not based in reality.  He believed he was mentally unwell at the time of the offending due to long-term use of drugs and was willing to remain on treatment.
  23. [25]
    Immediate circumstances of the killing.  Mr Zarnke told Dr Neillie that in midDecember 2014 he stopped taking his prescribed antipsychotic medication and experienced the re-emergence of voices and a range of paranoid beliefs.  Once again he believed that he and his family were at risk from outlaw motorcycle gang members.  He again began to believe that he was being poisoned.  He said that on the night preceding the killing, he had been kicked out of a friend’s house because he kept talking to himself.  He said he remembered arriving at his aunt’s house and remembered the victim making him a cup of coffee.  He attributed the fact that there was only a little bit of milk in the bottle to the fact that there was poison in the milk, and he heard a voice telling him so.  He said he took a shower and covered himself in bleach and brushed his teeth with bleach and drank a lot of water because he believed he had been poisoned.  He said he began to sweat blood and that when he went to the toilet there was blood in the toilet.  Mr Zarnke told Dr Neillie that the voices told him that if he killed his aunt and her de facto it would be all over, “they’d leave me alone and let my kids go”.  He said he did not remember the actual killing; did not know why he ran away, and did not know what he did with the knife.  He remembered that he took the knife from the kitchen bench.
  24. [26]
    Dr Neillie’s opinion.  Dr Neillie thought that Mr Zarnke was experiencing psychotic symptoms at the time of the killing and that he had been experiencing psychotic symptoms since September 2014: persecutory self-referential delusions and auditory hallucinations. 
  25. [27]
    While the onset of these symptoms was associated with amphetamine use, they had persisted despite abstinence and the use of a high dose antipsychotic medication.  In these circumstances Dr Neillie gives a diagnosis of schizophrenia, paranoid type.  He believes that at the time of the killing Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacity to know that he ought not kill the victim.  However, based on Mr Zarnke’s self-report of using both cannabis and amphetamines, Dr Neillie thought that it was possible that intoxication with both these drugs may have been a contributory factor to his mental state at the time of the killing. 
  26. [28]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Neillie that he had not used marijuana at all for 10 days before the offending and that he had used methamphetamine once, three or four days before the killing, and that was in an amount of half a point – t 1-7.  Dr Neillie accepted that the objective evidence from the blood and urine screen put the consumption of methamphetamine closer to the time of the killing than Mr Zarnke reported – t 1-10.  Dr Neillie’s evidence was that amphetamines increase a person’s arousal, activity levels, and contribute to psychotic symptoms, including affecting the person’s mood and their perceptions – t 1-19.
  27. [29]
    Dr Neillie thought that the degree of Mr Zarnke’s psychotic symptoms at the time of the killing meant that there was an abnormal state of mind at that time which substantially impaired his capacity to know he ought not kill the victim.
  28. [30]
    Dr Neillie thought Mr Zarnke was fit for trial.
  29. [31]
    Dr Jane Phillips.  I have two reports from Dr Jane Phillips dealing with the killing.  The first is dated 25 January 2016.  Dr Phillips obtained a mental health history from Mr Zarnke which began at age seven where he presented to a psychologist with an “anger problem”.  He said that aged 15 or 16 he was admitted to a Tasmanian Mental Health Unit as an involuntary patient for a week after trying to kill his brother.  The attempted attack was a stabbing.  The motivation for the attack was because Mr Zarnke was drunk and angry because his brother tried to sell Mr Zarnke’s pushbike.  He said at that time he was paranoid and experiencing visual hallucinations.  He described a context of smoking marijuana and using his brother’s prescription dexamphetamine medication.  Mr Zarnke reported an episode of self-harm at age 17 when he tried to cut his wrist.
  30. [32]
    Mr Zarnke had no further contact with mental health services until September 2014.  However, he said that from age 23 or 25 he suffered from depression and episodes of paranoia and anxiety.  He thought these episodes of paranoia were related to his use of cannabis.
  31. [33]
    Dr Phillips gives a detailed history of the months preceding the offending.  Like Dr Neillie, she notes the first contact with Queensland mental health services on 19 September 2014, when Mr Zarnke was brought to an Emergency Department by police after threatening people with a baseball bat at his children’s school in relation to paranoid thoughts about being followed by the school principal.  He had set up dashboard cameras in his car and recorded number plates of cars he believed were following him.  At that stage people who knew Mr Zarnke gave a history of change in mental state over the last 12 months, characterised by frequent episodes of angry mood and paranoia.  Mr Zarnke was admitted to hospital under an ITO.  He required seclusion because he was so aggressive.  He admitted to recent use of amphetamines and regular use of cannabis.  The diagnosis was drug-induced psychosis and he was discharged on 23 September 2014.
  32. [34]
    On 29 September 2014 Mr Zarnke was admitted again after being brought to another Emergency Department by police because he had received three cautions in a 24-hour period.  He was agitated and paranoid.  Again he admitted to having recently used amphetamines.  He was discharged after a short stay in hospital.
  33. [35]
    On 15 October 2014 Mr Zarnke presented at another hospital with a referral from his GP requesting assessment for psychosis.  He reported paranoia and whispering inside his head.  He reported ongoing amphetamine and cannabis use.  He reported to the same Emergency Department a few days later – 19 October 2014.  This time he was admitted with a diagnosis of drug-induced psychosis.  He was discharged on 3 November 2014, having been medicated with antipsychotic medication with a consequent improvement in his mental state.
  34. [36]
    He was reviewed as an outpatient on 12 November 2014 and continued to report paranoid ideas that people were following him in the street and waiting outside his house.  He was reviewed again on 20 November 2014 and this time appeared worse.  He was agitated and angry.  He was suffering “prominent persecutory delusions” and delusions of reference.  He denied recent drug use.  Staff doubted his compliance with his antipsychotic medication.  He was thought to be acutely psychotic with a moderate risk of violence and an Authority to Return to hospital was issued to police.  Police brought Mr Zarnke to hospital on 22 November 2014.  He was aggressive and he admitted not taking his antipsychotic medication.  He had used speed and alcohol the previous evening.  He had also been using cannabis.  He was staying with his aunt.  She reported that he was talking to himself and that he believed he was being followed.  His aunt said he was only intermittently complying with prescribed antipsychotic medication.
  35. [37]
    On 11 December 2014 Mr Zarnke’s mother contacted mental health services due to his increasing paranoia and aggressive behaviour.  He had threatened to kill his mother and sister.  Mr Zarnke’s mother told mental health services that he was deliberately downplaying his symptoms so that he would not be admitted.  I might interpolate, Mr Zarnke has admitted much the same thing to Dr Neillie and Dr Phillips.  Another Authority to Return was issued to police and he was returned to hospital on 5 January 2015.  At this review he seemed quite well and the information from his aunt was to the same effect, although his urine screening showed that he had been using cannabis.
  36. [38]
    On 13 January 2015 he was reviewed as an outpatient.  He still believed he was being followed.  He was still collecting number plates.  He said he could provide video evidence of this, and he believed his phone and computer had been hacked by his aunt’s neighbours.  He said he could hear the neighbours talking about him.  He admitted to using cannabis and drinking alcohol but said he had not used methamphetamine since before Christmas.  He was reviewed again on 30 January 2015.  He was hostile, still believed he was being followed and felt as though he had a thousand eyes upon him, which meant he could not sleep.  He wondered whether he was being poisoned.  He was still talking about computers being hacked.  He was irritable and anxious.  There was a plan to review him on 17 February 2015.
  37. [39]
    Mr Zarnke presented to the Emergency Department of Logan Hospital on 8 February 2015 saying that he had been poisoned by cyanide.  He was highly agitated and verbally aggressive.  He left the hospital soon after presenting.
  38. [40]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that he did not take his antipsychotic medication after 11 December 2014 and that he was experiencing psychotic symptoms from that time, but lying to health workers to disguise this.
  39. [41]
    So far as drug use was concerned, Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that his use of illegal drugs decreased from 13 October 2014, but that he “relapsed” into use of both cannabis and methamphetamine two or three days prior to the alleged offence.  He said that two or three days prior to the alleged offence, on a single occasion, he used one point of intravenous methamphetamine and smoked “a couple of cones of marijuana”.  He denied using alcohol at the time of the offending. 
  40. [42]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that he was staying with the younger sister of his ex-de facto, but became convinced that she was poisoning him and so presented to Logan Hospital (presumably this is the presentation on 8 February 2015).  He said he used methamphetamine while staying with this lady – t 1-43.  He then went to stay at another house with a male friend, but there were difficulties because he was talking to himself and upsetting his friend, and he believed the friend was trying to poison him.  In the middle of the night immediately before the killing, when he was talking to himself, the friend “kicked me out”.  He then went to his aunt’s house.  He was convinced he had been poisoned; showered, and covered himself in bleach.  He thought he was bleeding through his chest and skin and experienced hallucinations of this blood.  He said that “the voices in my head told me to kill my aunty” and that the next thing he knew he was stabbing the victim.  He described this as having “killed my best friend”.  He denied any direct memory of the actual killing.  He expressed guilt and remorse. 
  41. [43]
    He reported thinking the police were trying to kill him when they arrested him and that the forensic suit they gave him to wear was poisoned.  He had very little memory of what went on at the watch-house or what went on at his first few days at the High Secure Unit at The Park.
  42. [44]
    Dr Phillips makes a detailed analysis of the police witness statements and audio and visual recordings.  She concludes that the witness statements, including from Mr Zarnke’s aunt, cousin and the friend with whom he was living “provide extensive examples of Mr Zarnke displaying psychotic symptoms in the 5-6 months leading up to the alleged offence and florid psychotic symptoms at the time of the alleged offence”. 
  43. [45]
    She notes that Mr Zarnke’s ex-de facto outlines a long history of controlling and jealous behaviour and physical violence towards her. 
  44. [46]
    Dr Phillips says that the police witness statements and the police recordings of Mr Zarnke’s interactions with police give strong evidence of his suffering florid psychotic symptoms.  She describes Mr Zarnke at the time of his arrest as “in a highly agitated state, combative towards police, markedly preoccupied with paranoid delusions that he was being poisoned … that he had gangrene … that he was going to die within hours … that the police were attempting to murder him”.  She says it is evident from the audio recordings that Mr Zarnke was responding to hallucinatory phenomena as he can be heard yelling out and conversing with voices when he was left alone. 
  45. [47]
    In her evidence she also discussed the beliefs Mr Zarnke had that Mr Bell was responsible for the breakdown of his (Mr Zarnke’s) relationship with his ex-de facto.  Dr Phillips said there was no indication that Mr Bell had been involved in this, and that Mr Zarnke’s ideas about it sounded “very delusional”.  Mr Zarnke thought that Mr Bell had provided drugs to Mr Zarnke’s ex-partner so that she could drug Mr Zarnke and render him unconscious so that she could move out of the house taking his child with her.  Dr Phillips saw this as a source of anger towards Mr Bell, but said, “That anger was also fuelled by psychosis.  I don’t think that there was a nonpsychotic motivation to be angry with the victim.”[8]
  46. [48]
    Dr Phillips’ opinion.  Dr Phillips diagnoses chronic schizophrenia, antisocial personality traits, depression and cannabis and methamphetamine abuse.  She thought that at the time of the killing Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacities both to know what he was doing was wrong, and to control his actions.
  47. [49]
    So far as intoxication is concerned, Dr Phillips noted that Mr Zarnke reported less use of illicit substances to her than he had reported to both Dr Neillie and also to the police soon after arrest.  She noted that analysis of urine taken at 14:30 on 12 February 2015 was positive for amphetamine, methylamphetamine and an inactive metabolite of cannabis.  She says that based on that, “It is likely that Mr Zarnke used amphetamines at some time in the days prior to the sample being taken, such that the amphetamine had sufficient time to be eliminated from his bloodstream but not his urine”.  She thought that on the balance of probabilities, at the time of the offending Mr Zarnke was intoxicated with amphetamine and cannabis.
  48. [50]
    Dr Phillips thought that, discounting the effect of intoxication with illegal drugs, Mr Zarnke’s capacity to control his actions and capacity to know he ought not do the act were substantially impaired at the time of the killing. 
  49. [51]
    Dr Phillips thought Mr Zarnke was fit for trial.
  50. [52]
    Second report.  Dr Phillips gave a supplementary report dated 13 April 2016.  She had been provided with two more accounts by Mr Zarnke as to his use of illicit drugs before the offending.  The first was Dr Wilson’s report of 16 February 2016 to the effect that Mr Zarnke had used amphetamine the night before the offending, ie., on 9 February 2015.  In her evidence in Court Dr Wilson said that Mr Zarnke told her he used five points on what she assumed was one occasion.  The second account was that Mr Zarnke had told Forensic Medical Officer Dr Miriakian that he had used cannabis the night before the offence.  Dr Phillips comments that this gave further weight to her opinion that voluntary intoxication did contribute at least to some extent to the state of mind (viz., deprivation) of Mr Zarnke at the time of the offending.
  51. [53]
    Forensic Pathologist.  At Dr Phillips’ suggestion an opinion from a pathologist was obtained.  Dr Charles Appleton gave the view in a letter dated 9 May 2016 that, “It would appear to me to be likely, based on the assumption of an unexceptional urinary creatinine that the methamphetamine was used last on the 9th or the 10th of February”.  He qualified this in a letter dated 10 May 2016 to say that if methamphetamine had been used on 10 February 2015 it is likely to have been used early, viz during the morning, on that day.  He also expressed the view in that second letter that it was probable that the last use of cannabis occurred no closer than 48 hours before collection (14:30 12 February 2015) but it was difficult to say when the time of last use may have been.
  52. [54]
    Dr Jeremy Butler.  I have three reports from Dr Jeremy Butler regarding the killing.  The first is dated 30 October 2015.  Mr Zarnke told Dr Butler he still heard one voice and the voice told him to kill other people.  It had told him to kill a former co-patient, whom Mr Zarnke characterised as “standing over me”.  However, he no longer heard his exgirlfriend’s voice or other voices.  He had come to understand that the voices were abnormal.  However, he still had persecutory ideas, in particular that bikies might be after him.  He had been prescribed antidepressants which had helped with depressive symptoms he had suffered, however, he still had some ongoing suicidal thoughts and expressed that he felt guilty for what he had done.
  53. [55]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Butler about the attempt to kill his brother when aged 14, and a suicide attempt when he was 17.  He said that throughout his life he had felt paranoid when he smoked cannabis.  He had lost jobs because he became suspicious of workmates.  He became reclusive and shut the curtains at home.  He recalled that he received subliminal messages from the television and had beliefs that he was being monitored.  Notwithstanding this, it was not until September 2014 that his psychotic experience escalated markedly.  He believed that outlaw motorcycle gangs were “after him” and that he owed them $50,000.  He noticed that cars were following him in the traffic and said that on one occasion a car had pulled up beside him and the occupants had pointed a gun at him.  His paranoid beliefs were responsible for his attack on the school principal, who he believed had followed him. 
  54. [56]
    Dr Butler gives a similar history from September 2014 through to January 2015 as the other doctors do.  Mr Zarnke described that in January 2015 he became increasingly of the belief that he was being poisoned.  A cigarette given to him by a friend “tasted weird”; he thought that Mr Bell was putting cyanide in the coffee, and that his aunt was complicit in this.  He described seeing white flecks in the coffee and having symptoms which he attributed to poisoning: vertigo and vomiting blood.
  55. [57]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Butler that he had used cannabis from age 13 until October 2014 on a daily basis.  He said that after being hospitalised in October 2014 he abstained for nearly five weeks but after Christmas commenced cannabis use again, although relatively moderately.  He said that he consumed three cones of cannabis about three days before the alleged offence.  Mr Zarnke told Dr Butler that he began to use methamphetamine in September 2014.  He said he only used it once every two weeks because it was expensive.  He said he used one and a-half points of methamphetamine three days before the alleged offence.  Mr Zarnke denied any problematic alcohol consumption and denied drinking alcohol on the day of the alleged offence.  Dr Butler noted that this report of drug use before the offending was quite different to the reports which Mr Zarnke gave Dr Neillie. 
  56. [58]
    Dr Butler’s opinion.  Dr Butler thought Mr Zarnke suffered from “a severe psychotic condition characterised primarily by intrusive, command auditory hallucinations and persecutory delusions”.  Notwithstanding a period of enforced abstinence since arrest, Mr Zarnke had not become completely well and Dr Butler therefore concluded that Mr Zarnke had schizophrenia, as a “primary psychotic illness”, as well as a depressive disorder.  He thought that although there were issues in Mr Zarnke’s adolescence, and since, he did not warrant a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder.
  57. [59]
    Mr Zarnke gave Dr Butler a history very similar to that he had given to the other psychiatrists.  He said he had gone to his aunt’s house, felt very suspicious of her and Mr Bell, and became agitated and terrified because he thought he was in danger.  He left that house and travelled to a friend’s house.  However, the friend asked him to leave when he saw Mr Zarnke talking to himself in the yard.  Mr Zarnke then returned to his aunt’s place where he continued to be preoccupied by the idea that his aunt and Mr Bell were trying to poison him.  He told Dr Butler he received a command hallucination telling him to kill Mr Bell.  He gave Dr Butler a “patchy account” from thereon.  He was unsure as to the killing and unsure of how he got to Beaudesert.
  58. [60]
    Dr Butler believed that he was deprived of the capacity to control his behaviour in these circumstances and the capacity to know that he ought not do the act.
  59. [61]
    As to intoxication, Dr Butler noted the difficulty with the varying accounts which Mr Zarnke had given to the doctors as to how much illicit drug he had consumed, and when.  He said that if Mr Zarnke consumed only a small amount of drug, as he related to Dr Butler, he would support a defence of unsoundness but not if he was “consuming cannabis and methamphetamine at the dramatically higher level noted by Dr Neillie”.
  60. [62]
    Dr Butler thought that Mr Zarnke was fit for trial.
  61. [63]
    Second and third reports.  Dr Butler’s second report is dated 13 April 2016.  He was provided with the urinalysis performed 12 February 2015.  He agreed that intoxication had contributed to some extent to Mr Zarnke’s state of mind at the time of the offending, thus he was deprived of the defence of unsoundness.  His report of 1 July 2016 confirms this.

Offending before the Killing

  1. [64]
    Offending of 28 September 2014.  Mr Zarnke is charged with four offences from this date: public nuisance; assault or obstruct police; failure to provide specimen of breath, and drive under the influence.
  2. [65]
    CCTV footage shows Mr Zarnke driving to the BP service station at Burpengary East at around 9.30 am on Sunday, 28 September 2014.  His behaviour thereafter was violent and erratic.  His movements were short and sharp.  His speech was slurred.  He had glazed eyes; he was frothing around the mouth, and had dried spittle around his mouth.  He admitted to police he had smoked amphetamines earlier that day.  This is the basis of the charge of drive under the influence.
  3. [66]
    Inside the BP service station Mr Zarnke yelled and screamed that someone was going to kill him.  He ran around screaming, knocking over a sunglasses display stand.  He then jumped over the console counter into the staff only area.  He made his way to the café.  He jumped over the counter there and thereafter ran about, jumping and standing on tables.  This is the basis of the charge of commit public nuisance.
  4. [67]
    When police arrived Mr Zarnke ignored their direction to sit on the ground.  When they went to arrest him he struggled violently; tried to run away, and kicked one of the officers.  This is the basis of the charge of assault or obstruct police.  The body camera footage shows Mr Zarnke telling police that he was very scared and terrified that he had “gone batshit crazy”; that there was “a bunch of gangsters over there”; that he was not crazy, and that everyone was trying to kill him.  He can be seen calling out to other people in the service station to call more police before he is executed.  The footage shows police hitting Mr Zarnke with a baton and also Mr Zarnke kicking them.
  5. [68]
    Then at the Caboolture watch-house, when asked to take a breath test, Mr Zarnke responded by accusing police of trying to kill him; the test of being rigged, and the police of being terrorists.  This is the basis for the charge of failing to provide a specimen of breath.  The watch-house footage shows Mr Zarnke asking for a fresh collection tube for the breathalyser and police refusing this.  Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that he refused the breathalyser test because he thought he could smell alcohol on the collection tube and was paranoid and believed that the police were trying to set him up.  He told Dr Phillips that he would have agreed to take the test if police had opened a new collection tube in his presence.
  6. [69]
    It will be recalled that Mr Zarnke’s first psychiatric admission was between 19 September 2014 and 23 September 2014.  Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that he had continued to experience psychotic symptoms at the time of this discharge from hospital, but had lied about this in order to be discharged.  He told her that at the time of the offending he was still compliant with his antipsychotic medication.  He told Dr Phillips that at about this time he believed he was being followed, and that at some point a car had pulled up beside his car and the occupant had pointed a shotgun at him.  He thought that people were reading his mind, and that everybody in the service station was talking about him.  He thought that there were people trying to shoot him at the side of the road near the petrol station.
  7. [70]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that the police turned up and “attacked me with batons” and that he had been kicked and punched to the legs by police.  He said that police very nearly broke his legs.
  8. [71]
    As to the failure to provide a breath sample, Mr Zarnke reported that the breath testing device smelt of alcohol and said that at the time he was paranoid and believed police were trying to set him up for a crime. 
  9. [72]
    Mr Zarnke said he was not intoxicated with alcohol on the morning of 28 September 2014; he had not drunk any alcohol except for a couple of bourbons a few nights before.  He struggled to recall whether he had used illicit drugs.  He thought he had not.  This conflicts with what he said to police at the time of his arrest.  He told them that he had only “taken a tiny little bit … I’m not delirious” (body camera footage from the time of arrest) and “I’ve smoked one point” (witness statement Constable Pilgrim).  It also conflicts with what he said on admission to hospital on 29 September 2014.
  10. [73]
    On 29 September 2014 Mr Zarnke was taken to the Emergency Department of the Caboolture hospital because he had received three police cautions over a 24 hour period.  On assessment at that hospital Mr Zarnke was agitated; described paranoid thoughts that his girlfriend had run away with their flatmate and that people were after him and trying to kill him.  He reported amphetamine use two days earlier.  He was admitted as an involuntary patient and diagnosed with amphetamine intoxication before being discharged.
  11. [74]
    Dr Phillips’ opinion.  Dr Phillips thought that at the time of these offences Mr Zarnke was suffering from methamphetamine-induced psychosis or schizophrenia and was deprived of the capacity to know he ought not do the acts.  However, Dr Phillips’ opinion is that Mr Zarnke was intoxicated with methamphetamine at the time and that this contributed to his state of mind. 
  12. [75]
    Dr Eleanor Wilson.  I have a report from Dr Eleanor Wilson dated 16 February 2016 pursuant to s 238 of the Mental Health Act 2000.  She was Mr Zarnke’s treating psychiatrist from July 2015 to April 2016.  Mr Zarnke told Dr Wilson that he had smoked 0.2 grams of methamphetamine the night before the offending of 28 September 2014.  He told Dr Wilson that he thought his exgirlfriend and her current boyfriend wanted to kill him.  He said he could hear voices of people saying this to him out loud.  He thought he had seen bikies put a gun to his face and he was pretty certain he had seen a sawn-off shotgun protruding from the window of a passing car.  He thought he was being followed because he was going to be killed.  He said he was scared and that the police beat him.  He thought that he had called the police because he was going to be assassinated.  He said he did not remember kicking the police but he remembered they hit him with batons.  He said that if he kicked a policeman he “probably deserved it because they were both hitting me at the same time”.  In relation to the charge of failing to provide a specimen of breath Mr Zarnke said he believed that the breathalyser smelt like rum – alcohol.  He thought everybody was working against him.
  13. [76]
    Dr Wilson thought that Mr Zarnke was suffering from psychotic symptoms severe enough to deprive him of the capacity to know he ought not do the acts and the capacity to control his actions.  However, she thought that he was intoxicated and that that contributed to his state of mind.
  14. [77]
    Dr Butler’s opinion.  Dr Butler addresses these offences in his report of 25 May 2016.  His view was that Mr Zarnke was deprived of all capacities in relation to the offending at the service station and the capacity to know he ought not refuse to supply a specimen of breath.  However, he thought he was intoxicated at the time.  Mr Zarnke told him he would probably plead guilty because he was intoxicated.
  15. [78]
    Dispute of facts.  As to the claim by Mr Zarnke that he would have provided a breath test if police had changed the collection tube, Dr Butler says: “Although this may represent a retrospective rationalisation of his behaviour, I do not believe that his disputation of the facts is informed by any ongoing psychotic phenomena associated with his illness.”  Further, Dr Butler says that so far as the charge of assault or obstruct police officer at the BP service station is concerned, Mr Zarnke believed that the police were unnecessarily aggressive towards him and that he was assaulted.  He rejected the notion that he struck out at or injured any police officer.  Dr Butler says that again he believes his recollection of events may be a retrospective rationalisation, but he thinks that it does amount to a dispute of fact not informed by psychotic distortion of his reasoning.

Offending of 29 September 2014

  1. [79]
    Eventually Mr Zarnke calmed down in the watch-house on 28 September 2014.  He was released on bail and it was a condition of the bail that he not attend the BP service station at Burpengary.  Unfortunately though, his car was at the service station and, as it turned out, he did not have the key.  On 29 September 2014 he attended the BP service station and police were called when he was observed attempting to break into his own vehicle.  Mr Zarnke only made intermittent sense when talking to police on this occasion.  He had gone into the BP service station to enquire whether they had his keys, and also looked into another vehicle parked nearby to ask the occupants if they had his keys.  He told the police somebody had swapped the number plates on his car.  He had a sleep in the “truckers’ lounge” at the service station.  He told police that one of his friends had come and looked for his keys but had not been able to find them, so he had attended himself, and broken the window of his own car.
  2. [80]
    Mr Zarnke told police and told Dr Phillips that he knew it was a condition of bail that he not return to the service station.  However, he needed to because that is where his car was.  He told Dr Phillips he had not used alcohol or any illicit substances between the time of his release from the watch-house on 28 September and his arrest on 29 September.  He told Dr Phillips he had spent this time wandering the streets believing that people were trying to kill him.  Later on 29 September 2014 he was admitted to the Caboolture Mental Health Unit. 
  3. [81]
    Dr Phillips’ opinion was that Mr Zarnke was not deprived of any relevant capacity on 29 September 2014, although he was somewhat confused and all his capacities were probably impaired to some extent.  She additionally was of the opinion that he was still intoxicated with methamphetamine.
  4. [82]
    Dr Wilson agreed that on this date Mr Zarnke was not fully deprived of any relevant capacity and was still probably intoxicated.
  5. [83]
    Dr Butler says he believes Mr Zarnke was impaired in his capacity to know he ought not do these acts but not deprived. 

Offending of 13 October 2014

  1. [84]
    Mr Zarnke is charged with two counts of breaching his bail undertaking on this date.  On 18 October 2014 at about 3.00 am police were called to a male causing a disturbance in Woodridge.  Mr Zarnke was driving his car around.  Police directed him to stop and he did so.  A check was conducted and police found that Mr Zarnke was wanted on outstanding warrants for failing to appear in accordance with his bail undertakings of 28 and 29 September 2014. 
  2. [85]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that he forgot to go to Court; he thought his Court appearance was on 15 October, not 13 October.  Illogically then, he continued that he had rung the Court on the afternoon of 13 October and discovered a warrant had issued for his arrest.  He had apparently not done anything about that.  He told Dr Phillips his mental health was “pretty bad” at that time.  He was suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations and believed that people were trying to read his mind and that he could read everybody else’s mind.  He believed that his coffee was being poisoned.  He said that he would have used cannabis and alcohol around that time but not methamphetamine.  Dr Phillips notes that this is contrary to the information Mr Zarnke provided to her on 11 November 2015 when she interviewed him about the charge of murder.  At that time he told her he was smoking “not much” cannabis but continued to use methamphetamine.
  3. [86]
    It was on 15 October 2014 that Mr Zarnke presented to Logan Public Hospital on referral from his GP in relation to assessment for psychosis. 
  4. [87]
    Dr Phillips thought that while Mr Zarnke’s capacities to know what he was doing and to control himself were impaired at this time, they were not deprived.  She also thinks he was likely intoxicated at the relevant time.
  5. [88]
    Dr Wilson is of the same view.
  6. [89]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Butler the same thing (confusion over hearing date) – see his report of 25 May 2016.  Dr Butler did not think that Mr Zarnke was deprived of any relevant capacity in relation to this offending.  He thought that he had simply made an error which was not accounted for by his mental illness.

Offending of 18 October 2014

  1. [90]
    Mr Zarnke is charged with driving without a licence on this date.  When Mr Zarnke was driving around Woodridge at 3.00 am on 18 October 2014, his licence had been suspended so that he was unlicensed.  The suspension had been as a result of the charge of driving under the influence on 28 September 2014.
  2. [91]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips that at the time police stopped him in the early morning of 18 October 2014 he had been driving around looking for his ex-partner because he thought he could hear her screaming for help.  He thought that his girlfriend was in trouble.  He heard a voice telling him that his girlfriend was in danger.  He believed others were reading his mind.  He told Dr Phillips he would have used some marijuana a few days before, and maybe some methamphetamine, but denied any use on the day in question.  Dr Phillips notes that this is a different version from that given to Dr Wilson: Mr Zarnke told Dr Wilson he was using methamphetamine daily around that time.  He told Dr Butler (report 25 May 2016) he was uncertain what illicit drugs he was consuming about that time.
  3. [92]
    Dr Phillips notes that Mr Zarnke presented at the Logan Hospital Emergency Department on 19 October 2014 and was admitted from 20 October 2014 until 3 November 2014 under an involuntary treatment order.  His drug screen on 19 October 2014 was positive for cannabis and amphetamines.  He was anxious, depressed, paranoid, with auditory hallucinations and vague suicidal thoughts.
  4. [93]
    Dr Phillips thought that at the time of this offending on 18 October 2014 Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacity to know he ought not do the act.  However, she believed he was likely to be intoxicated with methamphetamine at the time and that that intoxication contributed to his state of mind. 
  5. [94]
    Dr Wilson did not think it clear that Mr Zarnke was deprived of any capacity during this offence, but she did think he was intoxicated.
  6. [95]
    Dr Butler believed that Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacity to know he ought not do the act comprised in this offending.  He did not express a view on intoxication, because Mr Zarnke could not give him any useful information.

Offending of 10 February 2015 (other than the charge of Murder)

  1. [96]
    Mr Zarnke stands charged with robbery and two counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle from this date.  These are offences which took place after the killing the subject of the murder charge.  It is not known what Mr Zarnke did immediately after the killing.  However, at about 9.00 am the first complainant parked her car at the main entrance of the Sunnybank Private Hospital in order to help her elderly parents out of the car.  While the complainant was doing this, Mr Zarnke sat in the driver’s seat of the vehicle and turned the vehicle on.  After a short struggle the complainant determined (wisely) to surrender the car to Mr Zarnke.  This car was later found abandoned at Rathdowney. 
  2. [97]
    The second car was stolen from Beaudesert later that day, apparently after the key was stolen from the owner’s house.
  3. [98]
    Mr Zarnke told Dr Phillips he had no memory of these offences.  He had some memory of his flight.  He described auditory hallucinations of voices giving him directions and telling him where to turn at various points.  The voices told him police would have the roads blocked off and would shoot him.
  4. [99]
    To all intents and purposes Mr Zarnke’s state of mind was similar during these offences to the state of mind he had at the time of the killing.  That is, he was floridly psychotic and, in Dr Phillips’ opinion, he was deprived of the capacity to know that he ought not do the acts.  Nonetheless, she believes he was intoxicated and that contributed to his deprivation of capacity.
  5. [100]
    Dr Wilson believed that Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacity to know he ought not do these acts and was also deprived of the capacity to control his actions.  She noted the different versions Mr Zarnke had given as to intoxication over time and did not feel confident to give an opinion as to this.
  6. [101]
    Dr Butler thought that even though the behaviours the subject of these charges were “goal directed behaviours”, Mr Zarnke’s mindset was dominated by ongoing persecutory beliefs which deprived him of the capacity to know he ought not do the acts.

Update Report

  1. [102]
    I have a report from Mr Zarnke’s treating psychiatrist, Dr Julian Dodemaide, dated 28 March 2017.  Dr Dodemaide reports that Mr Zarnke has been generally settled over the past year.  He experienced some “mild breakthrough psychotic symptoms” but these have settled with additional medication.  He was seeing a psychologist, focussing on education about his own illness and also his grief and loss issues.  He had regular visits from his parents and siblings.  He maintained contact with his ex-partner. 
  2. [103]
    Mr Zarnke was returned to custody at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre on 21 June 2016 because he had become well enough to leave The Park High Secure Unit.  Since then he has been followed up by prison Mental Health.  It is reported that his insight into his illness increased so that his involuntary treatment order was revoked on 2 October 2016.
  3. [104]
    Dr Dodemaide believes that Mr Zarnke is fit for trial. 

Advice of Assisting Psychiatrists

  1. [105]
    Dr Reddan’s advice to me was that on 10 February 2015 she thought the evidence showed very clearly that Mr Zarnke was psychotic but also under the influence of methamphetamine, so that a finding of unsoundness of mind was precluded.  She recommended that I accept the evidence of all the psychiatrists that Mr Zarnke was, nonetheless, suffering from an abnormality of mind which substantially impaired his capacity to control his actions at the time of the killing.  Dr Reddan thought that Mr Zarnke understood what he was doing at the time of the killing, despite Dr Butler’s opinion to the contrary.  I accept that advice from Dr Reddan.  I think Mr Zarnke did understand what he was doing at all material times on 10 February 2015.  Dr Gray’s advice was similar.

Findings

  1. [106]
    Murder 10 February 2015.  My findings are that Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacity to know he ought not do the acts comprising this offence, and deprived of the capacity to control himself.  However, because the evidence is that he was intoxicated with cannabis and methamphetamine at the time he is not entitled to a defence of unsoundness of mind pursuant to section 27 of the Criminal Code.  My finding then is that Mr Zarnke was not of unsound mind at the time of this offence.
  2. [107]
    I consider that Mr Zarnke’s schizophrenia was an abnormality of mind which substantially impaired his capacity to know that he ought not kill Mr Bell.  Even leaving aside the effect of the intoxicating substances on his mind, I think this substantial impairment remains, so that Mr Zarnke is entitled to rely upon the partial defence of diminished responsibility.  The law on this topic is as set out in my recent decisions of Earle[9] and the decision which will be reported as [2017] QMHC 4.[10]  My finding then is that Mr Zarnke was of diminished responsibility at the time he killed Mr Bell and may be tried for manslaughter only, not murder, in relation to this killing.
  3. [108]
    Offences of 28 September 2014.  In relation to the assault or obstruct police charge I believe there are two disputes of fact which do not arise from mental illness, so that I cannot make a finding about soundness of mind on this charge – see s 268 of the Mental Health Act 2000.  The disputes are in relation to whether or not there was provocation for the alleged assault on police, and whether or not the alleged assault took place, ie., whether there was a voluntary kicking by Mr Zarnke.
  4. [109]
    I do not see that there is a dispute of fact in relation to the charge of failing to provide a specimen of breath.  Section 80(5B) of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 provides that a person is not guilty of failing to supply a specimen of breath if there is some “reason of a substantial character for the person’s failure to provide the specimen as required”.  In my view, there was not a reason of a substantial character for Mr Zarnke’s failure to provide the specimen.  The reason he refused to provide the specimen was an insane reason, namely that he thought the police had contaminated the collection tube with alcohol in an attempt to set him up.  Counsel for Mr Zarnke tried to characterise his response to being asked to provide a specimen as one which was reasonable or rational: a request for another collection tube, opened in his presence, to be used.  First, I do not think this is made out factually.  Secondly, it is not the explanation Mr Zarnke has given for his failure to provide a specimen of breath.  My finding is there is not a dispute of fact within the meaning of s 268 of the Mental Health Act 2000.
  5. [110]
    In relation to all the offending of 28 September 2014 (other than the assault or obstruct police charge) my finding is that although Mr Zarnke was deprived at least of the capacity to know he ought not do the acts involved, he is not able to rely upon a defence of unsoundness of mind because he was intoxicated at the time.
  6. [111]
    Offending of 29 September 2014.  In accordance with the views of all three reporting psychiatrists, I find Mr Zarnke was not of unsound mind at the time of this offending.  The charge should proceed according to law.
  7. [112]
    Offending of 13 October 2014.  In accordance with the views of all three reporting psychiatrists, I find that Mr Zarnke was not of unsound mind at the time he committed these offences.  The charges should proceed according to law.
  8. [113]
    Offending of 18 October 2014.  I find that Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacities to know this act was wrong and to control himself at the time of this offending.  However, I find that he was likely intoxicated with methamphetamine and that intoxication contributed to his state of mind.  He is therefore not entitled to the defence of unsoundness of mind.  My finding is that he was not of unsound mind and the charge should proceed according to law.
  9. [114]
    Offending of 10 February 2015 (other than the charge of Murder).  In relation to this offending, whilst I find Mr Zarnke was deprived of the capacity to know he ought not do the acts involved in the offending, he is not entitled to a defence of unsoundness of mind because he was intoxicated at the time.  My finding is that he was not of unsound mind at the time of the offending.  The charges should proceed according to law.
  10. [115]
    Fitness for trial.  On all the material I find that Mr Zarnke is fit for trial.

Risk

  1. [116]
    Dr Dodemaide gave his opinion that a Forensic Order was necessary because of the serious nature of the charges Mr Zarnke faced and his lifelong mental health treatment needs.  He pointed to the apparent association between the symptoms of his mental illness and the events leading to the charge of murder and the very real negative connection between Mr Zarnke’s almost lifelong use of intoxicating substances and his poor mental state.  He reports that Mr Zarnke will always require medication to treat his mental illness. 
  2. [117]
    Dr Phillips says much the same thing in her report of 4 August 2016.  That is, she says that, depending on the legal result of the case, Mr Zarnke ought to be managed under a Forensic Order and in the High Security In-patient Service.  Dr Wilson expresses the same view in her report of 16 February 2016.
  3. [118]
    The evidence was that Mr Zarnke had a severe and treatment-resistant illness.  He failed to respond to many antipsychotic drugs while he was being treated at the High Secure Unit at The Park.  The drug Clozapine, which is a drug of last resort, had to be used – t 164.  While at The Park, he experienced command hallucinations telling him to kill other patients.
  4. [119]
    I will record Dr Reddan’s advice to me that Mr Zarnke’s very early, very abnormal and violent behaviours – chasing his mother down the street with a butcher’s knife aged seven and attacking his brother with a knife aged 14 – were not due to illness, but due to his personality.  Dr Reddan says that he has antisocial personality traits and has some aspects of paranoia in his personality.  In her advice to me she referred to Mr Zarnke’s controlling and abusive behaviour towards his former partner, who he would not even allow to have a bank account.  Mr Zarnke was put into foster care, not because his family could not care for him, but because he was dangerous to his family.[11]  Dr Reddan added that she was concerned that his drug-taking behaviour had been minimised in his accounts to psychiatrists, that he was being dishonest in saying he could not remember killing Mr Bell, and that he had somehow illegally obtained tobacco in prison, so that she wondered how compliant he would be outside prison.[12]
  5. [120]
    I mention these matters particularly for any sentencing Judge.

 

Footnotes

[1]  tt 1-7-8, 1-22, 1-23, 1-54, and 1-77.

[2]  tt 1-64-65.

[3]  t 1-63, t 2-31.

[4]  t 1-62.

[5]  tt 1-63-64.

[6]  t 1-29.

[7]  This may or may not have been true: t 1-27; tt 1-67-68; t 1-79; tt 2-26-27.

[8]  tt 1-65-66.

[9]  [2016] QMHC 9.

[10]  When the prescribed period has passed – see s 524 of the Mental Health Act 2000.

[11]  tt 2-32-33.

[12]  t 2-33.

Close

Editorial Notes

  • Published Case Name:

    In the matter of John Bernard Zarnke

  • Shortened Case Name:

    In the matter of John Bernard Zarnke

  • MNC:

    [2017] QMHC 5

  • Court:

    QMHC

  • Judge(s):

    Dalton J

  • Date:

    11 Jul 2017

Appeal Status

Please note, appeal data is presently unavailable for this judgment. This judgment may have been the subject of an appeal.

Cases Cited

Case NameFull CitationFrequency
Re Earle [2016] QMHC 9
1 citation
Re Greenfield [2017] QMHC 4
1 citation

Cases Citing

No judgments on Queensland Judgments cite this judgment.

1

Require Technical Assistance?

Message sent!

Thanks for reaching out! Someone from our team will get back to you soon.

Message not sent!

Something went wrong. Please try again.