Matthew Flame remembered killing Liam Anderson with bare hands while under delusion, court hears

The man accused of murdering Angry Anderson’s son told police about the delusions going through his mind at the time.

Liam Anderson was killed in November 2018. His friend Matthew Flame is on trial accused of his murder.

Murder accused Matthew Flame told police he remembered killing his friend Liam Anderson with his bare hands while under a delusion that was “so f**king real” it convinced him his friend was a demon trying to harm him.

“When I started attacking him it was like he was a demon and I was an angel,” Mr Flame told detectives a day after he was arrested.

“It was f**ed up.”

He insisted to the detectives “this is no bullshit” and said he was telling “god’s honest truth” about the fatal culmination to a night out drinking and taking drugs.

Mr Flame, now 22, is charged with murdering Mr Anderson, who was 26 when he died at Pavilion Reserve in Sydney’s northern beaches at around 6am on November 4 2018.

“When I started attacking him it was like he was a demon and I was an angel,” Matthew Flame told detectives a day after he was arrested. Photo Jeremy Piper

It is not in dispute that he killed Mr Anderson, but Mr Flame has pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of mental illness.

While in custody he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, the court heard.

Prosecutors say his psychosis was caused by drugs he took voluntarily, not a mental illness.

Mr Flame told detectives in a recording played to court that he had drunk about eight bourbon and cokes and had taken five strong capsules of MDMA as he partied with friends before waking up “in a completely weird space” in the early hours of the morning.

He said he believed “something f**king evil” had infiltrated Mr Anderson, who was sticking close to him, and became convinced he had to kill him for “survival” as they walked down to the beach.

“What happened happened I guess. You’ve got to admit the truth because it is what it is,” he said.