A man who stabbed a paramedic to death in Sydney in an unprovoked attack has been found not criminally responsible for the fatal act on mental health grounds.
Jordan James Fineanganofo admitted stabbing 29-year-old paramedic Steven Tougher 55 times outside a McDonald’s in Campbelltown in the early hours of 14 April 2023.
The 23-year-old pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of mental health impairment and a New South Wales supreme court judge on Friday found the elements of the defence had been established.
“I accept the psychiatric evidence on the balance of probabilities that the accused suffered from a mental health impairment,” justice David Davies said.
“That mental impairment had the effect that the accused did not know that his actions were wrong.”
Prosecutors agreed to a special verdict being appropriate for Fineanganofo, who said he had been hearing voices in the lead-up to the attack.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Kerri Eagle, who was engaged by the prosecution, found Fineanganofo was suffering from a psychotic illness at the time, consistent with a relapse of schizophrenia.
Eagle said Fineanganofo was aware enough to know what he was doing but could not properly reason that it was wrong due to his mental state.
Crown prosecutor Ken McKay SC previously told the court the killer had no interaction with Tougher before the chilling attack, which lasted close to four minutes.
Tougher tried to push Fineanganofo away but was unable to, saying, “What are you doing? Stop stabbing me mate.”
Despite the efforts of several people to help, the attacker continued to stab Tougher, walking away several times before returning to inflict more wounds on the NSW Ambulance worker as he lay on the ground.
After his arrest, Fineanganofo reported hearing auditory hallucinations in the form of various voices and his own voice telling him to kill himself and others.
He said the voices had increased in intensity over the past month and on that day he had been unable to cope with them, prompting him to attack a random member of the community.
Fineanganofo also pleaded not guilty on mental health grounds to a string of related charges over alleged incidents in nearby suburbs in the days before killing Tougher.
Those incidents included intimidating a woman who was pushing a stroller with a five-month-old child, threatening several men at a service station and swinging a knife at a man during a roadside incident, piercing his jacket but not his skin.
Fineanganofo was remanded in custody after the verdict and a hearing was set down for Thursday to make further orders.
As he was led from the court, several people yelled out from a large group of Tougher’s family and supporters.
“You chose not to take your medication,” one person said. “You’re the demon.”
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