Brendan Kantilla pleads not guilty to the murder of Md ‘Sifat’ Isfaqur Rahman during violent Millner home invasion
A jury has heard an intellectually disabled man had no capacity to control himself as he bludgeoned an unconscious international student with a fire extinguisher during a violent home invasion.
A disabled man who slammed a pavement tile into the skull of a sleeping student, before bashing his convulsing body with a fire extinguisher has pleaded not guilty to his murder.
On Monday the Supreme Court heard 23-year-old Md ‘Sifat’ Isfaqur Rahman left his home in Bangladesh with the hopes of a better future in Australia, studying at Darwin’s Charles Darwin University while working nights as a cleaner.
But just three months after moving to Darwin, he was killed by a home invader, 29-year-old Brendan Kantilla, in the early hours of May 3, 2023.
A jury heard Mr Rahman spent more than 30 hours on life support before he succumbed to his traumatic head injury, which included facial and skull fractures.
Two and a half years after his death, Mr Kantilla appeared in the Supreme Court to plead guilty to manslaughter, but not guilty to the murder of Mr Rahman.
Defence barrister Phillip Boulten told the Supreme Court jury his client’s underlying cognitive issues meant he did not have the ability to stop his own violent attack.
The jury heard Mr Kantilla broke into the student’s Millner share house while Mr Rahman was asleep in his bed, soon after finishing his shift as a cleaner.
“He saw the deceased sleeping through open curtains and an open door to that bedroom,” Prosecutor Llyod Babb said.
Mr Babb said Mr Kantilla picked up a paver from the yard, and slowly walked over to the sleeping man until he was standing over his bed.
“He raised the paver above his head, and using his full strength… he slammed the paver into the deceased’s head,” he alleged.
Leaving the bleeding and unconscious man in his bed, Mr Kantilla then started rummaging through the room.
When Mr Rahman started to convulse from a seizure, Mr Babb said Mr Kantilla picked up a fire extinguisher and struck his head twice until he “stopped moving”.
Mr Kantilla continued to steal from the critically injured man’s room, and was later found with stolen car keys, a wallet, a phone and $2400 worth of Bangladeshi currency.
The jury heard TM Safi Sami — who worked with Mr Rahman and shared a room with him — was in his car calling his fiance in Bangladesh when the fatal attack occurred.
Mr Safi said he walked into his his garden to find a stranger holding a fire extinguisher.
He told the jury he chased off the unknown man, who threw items at him until he fled towards the Rapid Creek shops.
It was only when he returned to the room he discovered his roommate’s bloodied body, calling triple-0 before racing Mr Rahman to Royal Darwin Hospital.
The jury heard Mr Safi was still covered in his friend’s blood when he returned home, only to recognise Mr Kantilla at the nearby Rapid Creek shops near his car talking to police.
Body camera footage showed officers warning Mr Kantilla about his unregistered car, before Mr Safi yelled out they were talking to his friend’s attacker.
As he was arrested Mr Kantilla yelled: “I don’t know nothing”, “I’m normal, I’m not shaking” and repeated “they’re picking on me”.
In a recorded police interview Mr Kantilla admitted to striking the 23-year-old with the paver and fire extinguisher, and said he stole from the home after his car ran out of fuel.
In the interview officers repeatedly asked Mr Kantilla if he understood what they were saying to him, and while he said he “understood” his rights, he struggled to explain back legal concepts.
Defence barrister Phillip Boulten said: “There is going to be no dispute about events concerning what happened inside that house”.
Mr Boulten said the core question at the centre of the lengthy trial was if the man with impaired capacity “intended to kill him”.
Two clinical neuropsychologists are expected to be called to give evidence over the degree of Mr Kantilla’s intellectual impairment.
In outlining his defence and his underlying condition, Mr Boulten said the 12-person jury would explore the life of the Tiwi-born man.
“He comes from a home where there was unhappiness and where there was trauma and violence,” he said.
Mr Boulten said the nature of his childhood had resulted in developmental trauma, with Mr Kantilla also suffering from underlying cognitive issues.
“He did have a substantially reduced capacity to understand exactly what he was doing, to understand the events and how serious they were when he was doing them, and to judge whether his actions were right or wrong,” Mr Boulten said.
“He had the ability to know his actions were right or wrong, but he didn’t really understand how wrong it was... or the capacity to control himself, to put a brake on what was happening.
“In other words, to exercise self-control.”
The trial continues.
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Originally published as Brendan Kantilla pleads not guilty to the murder of Md ‘Sifat’ Isfaqur Rahman during violent Millner home invasion
