Experts dissect Kevin James Pettiford‘s mental state as he faces Supreme Court trial for murder, attempted murder
A vagrant who brutally killed two sleeping men in NSW and Qld has “always been an angry c--t” and was just “floating around” before the horrific acts he described as “art”.
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Experts have been brought before the Supreme Court to help the jury in a disturbing murder trial decide whether a vagrant who brutally took the lives of two homeless men in NSW and Queensland was mentally impaired.
Kevin James Pettiford, 38, also slashed the throat of a fellow inmate and a prison officer’s arm, the Sydney court has been told.
Mr Mellows survived, but suffered horrendous injuries.
The court heard Pettiford had a healthy childhood, but deteriorated to the point he wanted to kill a random man and rape a woman on the street in Victoria.
“I’ve always been an angry c--t,” Pettiford told assessing psychologists while locked up.
“I was just f--king floating around in my tent, prior to that in hostels and in a car.”
Jurors in the trial before Justice Hament Dhanji have heard Pettiford, a Victorian man, also told Queensland Police he killed David Collin, 53, while he was sleeping at Maroochydore, Queensland in September 2019.
Pettiford – who described himself as the “Hand of Death” and said he planned to kill more people – must show he was mentally impaired and is not criminally responsible if his defence is to be successful, public defender Jason Watts told the court.
Pettiford landed behind bars after he was arrested at Tweed on a bus heading to Sydney on November 26, 2019, Crown prosecutor Brendan Campbell told the jury.
The court has heard Pettiford considered his killings “art”, homeless men were killed because he believed no one cared about them and that he killed by a “code”, which excluded women.
Jurors have heard from a slew of Corrective Services NSW psychiatrists, who provided differing opinions on Pettiford’s mental state.
Psychiatrist Dr Gordon Elliot said while reading from a report that experts had “distinctly different” impressions.
Dr Elliot said it was imperative to get an early assessment of people charged with crimes like murder because they can “change in custody”, making things difficult.
Barrister Mr Watts said Pettiford had sought psychiatric help since he was 16 years old.
The jury was told Pettiford abused prescription drugs and alcohol to self-medicate in his deteriorating mental state.
The court heard a report by Dr Matthew Hannon showed Pettiford had a range of “character” flaws, including personality disorder with narcissism, emotional deficit, and interpersonal relationship dysfunction – but no mental impairment.
But when Pettiford was assessed by consulting psychiatrist Dr Jeremy O’Dea, he had “a distinctly different impression of Mr Pettiford’s mental state”.
Dr O’Dea found Pettiford was “abnormally elevated in mood with formal thought disorder” -his thoughts were racing.
The expert also found Pettiford to be grandiose and controlling during an interview – symptoms acknowledged by Dr Elliot as signs of someone in an “elevated state of mania” as part of bipolar disorder.
Dr O’Dea said Pettiford had issues with medication in custody and refused to try new medications.
He believed Pettiford may have schizoaffective disorder and found that Pettiford was legally “mentally ill”.
He made a provisional diagnosis of a manic episode of bipolar affective disorder, one which was responding to treatment.
When Mr Campbell asked Dr Elliot if he thought Pettiford had bipolar disorder, he said he did not.
The trial continues.
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