Bhanu Kirkman found not guilty of ‘beautiful’ Bellambi mum’s murder
A man accused of killing a new mum has been found not guilty of her murder, with a Supreme Court judge finding he was suffering from a longstanding mental illness.
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A man accused of brutally killing a “kind, generous and loving” Illawarra mother has been found not guilty of her murder, due to the psychotic mental state he was in at the time.
Justice Richard Button found Bhanu Kirkman not guilty of murdering Bellambi mum Kristie Powell by way of his mental health in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday, as her family prepares to spend their second Christmas without her.
Judge Button found that Kirkman’s actions had killed Ms Powell on October 4, 2018, but that he could not be found guilty due to his clear mental illness, which lead him to believe he was part of the Indian military and of “royal lineage”.
Kirkman stood accused of breaking into Ms Powell’s Bellambi home and stabbing her to death in front of her five-month-old baby son, after his mental illness led him to believe she was a “professional murderer” and responsible for the September 11 bombings.
During the course of the trial, the court heard Kirkman and Ms Powell had a falling out after he briefly worked for her in 2014, and that he then became “aggrieved and bitter about it”, at times sending her hundreds of threatening messages a day, including one that said ‘die Kristie die”.
Kirkman, who was observed by broth Crown and defence psychiatrists as having delusional thoughts, bizarre behaviours and schizoaffective disorder, began believing he had been tasked to kill Ms Powell as part of a “mission”.
In a notebook found by police at the time of his arrest on October 8, 2018, it was revealed he had planned out her death, naming her on a “death list”. He had also taken steps two days prior to plan Ms Powell’s death, buying a knife, gloves, duffel bag and train ticket from Melbourne to the Illawarra.
After her death, he disposed of his mobile phone and clothes, and fled several hundred kilometres from the scene to Maitland.
In handing down his judgment, Judge Button said he was “satisfied Kirkman had planned to end Ms Powell’s life”.
“The actions were undoubtedly voluntary and his actions quickly and directly led to the death of the deceased,” he said.
“As he stabbed (Ms Powell) to death he was well aware he was extinguishing the life of a human.”
But, Judge Button said it was very clear through the psychiatrists reports that Kirkman did not appreciate what he was doing was “morally wrong”, rather believing he was doing something “utterly right”.
“As a result of mental illness he created the belief she was a person of monstrous evil who deserved to be assassinated,” he said.
“(In speaking with police and the psychiatrists) he expressed not the slightest shame, but rather regarded it as a significant achievement.”
In finding Kirkman not guilty, Judge Button said it was clear the 30-year-old had been suffering from a disease of the mind for many years and was “suffering from it very acutely” on the night of Ms Powell’s death.
Despite finding he was not criminally responsible for Ms Powell’s death, Judge Burton described the act as a “senseless killing by a psychotic person that has created a waking nightmare for those who loved her.”
In a statement read to the court, Ms Powell’s mother Deborah described the last time she saw her “beautiful, strong and independent” daughter, at a family dinner just hours before her death.
After driving her daughter home, Deborah recalled Ms Powell’s final words to her.
“She said ‘I love you, Mum’, and that was the last time I saw her,” she said in a statement.
At 4am on October 5, Deborah and her husband were woken by the police, who informed them that their daughter was dead and her home was a homicide scene.
“I was in shock, lost, empty, everything was a blur,” her statement read.
“The grief was all consuming. I couldn’t eat or sleep, I felt so guilty … I shouldn’t have taken her home that night.
“My only job is to keep my children safe and I had failed that.”
In her statement, Deborah said she still cries every night, and that she is still “struggling with pain, anger and comprehension of how this could happen to our family”.
“How can one person’s actions send your life into such a downward spiral,” the statement reads.
While found not guilty, Judge Button ordered Kirkman be detained and committed to the long term care and control of the mental health tribunal, and must not be released until it is decided he will not endanger any person or himself.
But, this was little comfort to her family, with her brother Ryan telling the media “nothing would bring Kristie back”.
“‘He had plenty of hours to change her mind, he had plenty of time to do a different act … but he chose not to,” he said.
“The words ‘not guilty’ I’m not even sure what they mean.”