Court told Benjamin Coman had ‘quite a bizarre elaboration of beliefs’ before he killed his ex-lover Michelle Darragh

A man who killed his pregnant ex-partner in Bayswater North says he believed she was reading his mind through a device inserted in his brain.

Benjamin Coman has pleaded guilty to murdering his ex-lover Michelle Darragh. Picture: Facebook

The ex-lover of slain mum Michelle Darragh says he believed she was tracking him with a chip implanted in his brain and that the baby she was carrying was not his when he killed her.

Benjamin Coman has pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Darragh, 32, who was found with blunt force trauma and stab injuries at his Bayswater North home on October 9, 2021.

The social worker had gone over to the house she once shared with him and their two sons to pick up her belongings after their five-year relationship ended weeks earlier.

But a pre-sentencing hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday heard Coman, 31, had little memory of the brutal knife attack on the mother of his children.

After he killed her, he then turned the blade on himself.

Coman killed his ex, Michelle Darragh, weeks after their five-year relationship ended. Picture: Facebook

Forensic psychiatrist Associate Professor Andrew Carroll told the court how Coman was suffering both a delusional disorder and psychotic depression, which were exacerbated by his illicit drug use.

The court heard he was using marijuana and ice daily.

Dr Carroll said Coman had become increasingly paranoid, “was hearing voices and seeing things” and having delusions of infidelity.

Rather than thinking Ms Darragh’s unborn child was his, Dr Carroll said Coman told him that he believed he had been used as a surrogate father in some way, because her real partner had become infertile.

“He’s thinking the child is the product of an affair,” Dr Carroll said. “There was quite a bizarre elaboration of these beliefs.

“He believed that somehow the shops were poisoning him.

“He began to think his life was under threat — that he was under surveillance by his partner.

“He ultimately believed that his partner was reading his mind through some device inserted in his brain.”

The court heard Coman had little memory of the brutal knife attack. Picture: Facebook

But he said the difference in his assessment of Coman from April to November last year was “notable”, claiming Coman no longer believed Ms Darragh cheated on him.

In a twist of fate, the court heard it was Ms Darragh who saved Coman from a suicide attempt weeks earlier on September 13, when he was taken to hospital.

A/Professor Carroll said without Ms Darragh’s intervention on that day, Coman would have died.

Dr Carroll was called to give evidence by Coman’s barrister Susan Brennan, SC, in an attempt to argue his moral culpability was reduced.

It comes after Ms Darragh’s loved ones unleashed on Coman in a series of victim impact statements read out in court, calling him a “monster” and “cold-blooded murderer” for taking the “beautiful” mum, daughter, sister and aunty from them.

Ms Darragh had split from Coman after being fed up with his drug use and the fact he gave her an ultimatum: the unborn baby or him.

The hearing, before Justice Andrew Tinney, continues.