Mathew Flame took ecstasy before murdering Angry’s son: court
A Sydney court has been told Mathew Flame, 22, took 10 ecstasy pills and believed Angry Anderson’s son was a “demon” as he savagely bashed him to death.
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A young Sydney man swallowed 10 ecstasy pills before he savagely bashed to death Angry Anderson’s son who he thought was a “demon” but who in reality was trying to help him, a court has heard.
Mathew Flame, now 22, of Narraweena, is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court after formally pleading not guilty to murdering Liam Anderson, 26, in a small suburban park on Sydney‘s northern beaches in November 2018.
A jury was told on the first day of the trial on Tuesday that Flame and Mr Anderson were close mates when they had a night of heavy partying at an event called “Awful Things” at the Burdekin Hotel in Darlinghurst where one of their friends vomited after taking ecstasy.
Crown prosecutor Gareth Christofi told the court the group caught an Uber back to the northern beaches when Flame began hallucinating and Mr Anderson followed him to the small park in Queenscliff and said, “I’m not going to leave you”.
But instead of realising Mr Anderson was trying to watch over him Flame set upon him and savagely beat him to death as shocked onlookers called police and Mr Anderson helplessly tried to defend himself, the court was told.
“Liam Anderson was using his arms to try and cover his face from the blows, (a) passer-by called out to the accused to stop it, the accused paused, looked at the passer-by for a moment and continued to do what he had been doing,” Mr Christofi said.
“Of course, police were called … when they arrived they saw the accused sitting on Liam Anderson.”
Mr Anderson suffered critical injuries and paramedics could not save him.
The court was told Flame later told investigators he had taken 10 ecstasy tablets and thought Mr Anderson was a demon “who just wanted me dead”.
Flame also said he did not have a history of any mental illnesses.
He was later diagnosed with a schizophrenic disorder while in prison on remand in July last year, the court was told.
But Mr Christofi told the jury Flame had a healthy mind at the time of the alleged murder.
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“It’s the Crown’s position that … he did not have a disease of the mind, he had a healthy mind and that his psychosis was caused by the voluntary consumption of drugs and that the evidence doesn’t prove otherwise,” he said.
Mr Christofi said the onus was on Flame’s legal team to prove on the balance of probabilities he was “substantially impaired” during the incident if he was to be convicted of manslaughter and not murder.
Flame’s defence barrister John Stratton, SC, told the jury a true verdict would be not guilty by way of mental illness and that on the night Mr Anderson “was simply trying to help his friend”.
“When he killed Liam Anderson he was labouring under a severe psychiatric illness, schizophrenia, and as a result of suffering from the illness he had hallucinations which led him to believe that his friend was a demon who was trying to kill him and that he had no choice but to kill his good friend,” Mr Stratton said.
Rock singer Angry attended the court in person and watched on from the public gallery dressed in a dark suit and a gold-striped tie.
The trial before Justice Richard Button, which is expected to last about three weeks in the Supreme Court’s King St building in Sydney’s CBD, will return to court on Wednesday.