The man who fatally stabbed New South Wales paramedic Steven Tougher (toga) at a McDonald’s car park southwest of Sydney has been found not criminally responsible due to mental health impairment. The state's supreme court heard the crown and defence were in agreement that proposed evidence, including psychiatrist's opinions, meant that the special verdict was available to the accused.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Well, Jordan Finney and Gunafo pleaded not guilty to six charges, including Mr. Toga's
00:06murder after he repeatedly stabbed the 29-year-old in the Campbelltown McDonald's car park in
00:12an unprovoked attack in April last year.
00:15Now, up until recently, this case had appeared to be headed for a jury trial, but this week
00:21the New South Wales Supreme Court was told of evidence from psychiatrists that Finney
00:26and Gunafo has a mental health impairment in the form of schizophrenia and that he was
00:30experiencing symptoms of psychosis at the time, including hearing the voices of demons
00:36telling him to harm other people.
00:38Now, according to experts engaged by both the Crown and the defence team, that deprived
00:43him of the ability to see that his act was wrong at the time, and it made available to
00:48him a special verdict of act proven but not criminally responsible.
00:53Today in court, Justice David Davies said there was nothing to cast doubt on the opinions
00:58of those two psychiatrists and entered that special verdict on all six charges.
01:04In court, members of Steven Toga's family were sitting in the public gallery and there
01:08was a real sense of disbelief in their reactions.
01:11Many of them were shaking their heads and one person yelled out, you chose not to take
01:16your medication, you're the demon.
01:18Now this means that Finney and Gunafo will be periodically reviewed by a mental health
01:22tribunal.
01:23The court has also heard that he wasn't on medication at the time and he was involved
01:27in several other incidents in the day before this stabbing attack, including intimidating
01:32a woman in a Bunnings car park, scraping his knife over a vehicle in the car park and pulling
01:38that weapon on two separate witnesses in the lead up to this stabbing attack.
01:42The Toga family say they are simply appalled by this outcome and they say that Steven has
01:47been lost to a deeply flawed and broken system.
01:51Relatives are now planning to meet with the NSW Minister for Mental Health, Rose Jackson,
01:56and the State's Attorney General, Michael Daly.
01:58Let's hear from his father, Geoff Toga.
02:02What shocks us most is that more than 12 months after Steven's death, his killer was assessed
02:09by two forensic psychiatrists.
02:13It was their opinion that ultimately led to the verdict that Steven's killer should not
02:17be held criminally responsible for his death.
02:24These opinions were never tested in court and the two psychiatrists responsible for
02:30this deeply offensive decision have not even set foot in the courtroom.
02:37Steven's killer got away with murder.
02:42Now there were also members and supporters of the Finney and Gunafo family here today.
02:47They sat in a separate section of the public gallery.
02:49Outside, one person who was in that group simply said, we're sorry, and defence lawyer
02:54Javid Faiz said this is a tragic case and the family wished to extend their deepest
02:59empathy and condolences.