Closing statements in Voula Delios murder case

UPDATED: A MAN who stabbed North Hobart shopkeeper Voula Delios to death will be held indefinitely in a secure mental health unit after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering Mrs Delios.

Voula Delios’s daughter Maria, left, and another family member leaving the Supreme Court in Hobart after the verdict and sentencing. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE.

UPDATED: A MAN who stabbed North Hobart shopkeeper Voula Delios, 68, to death will be held indefinitely in a secure mental health unit after a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity of murdering Mrs Delios.

The Supreme Court took about three and a half hours today to unanimously find Daryl Royston Wayne Cook, 36, had committed the crime of murder but was insane at the time and therefore was not criminally responsible.

The jurors were told before they began their deliberations that a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict was not an acquittal, and could only be reached if the jurors were satisfied the crime had been committed.

Justice Gregory Geason sentenced Cook immediately after the verdict was given.

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The scene of the fatal stabbing in North Hobart. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

“On the basis of the evidence on the trial and the facts and opinions … I do not see any alternative to a restriction order,” Justice Geason said.

He said the issue of public safety outweighed considerations about Cook’s freedom.

He said if Cook, who has been in custody since Mrs Delios’s murder, were to be released now, he was likely to be a danger to the community.

Justice Geason ordered Cook be “detained in a secure mental health unit until that order is discharged by this court”.

Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates, SC, said: “What happened to Mrs Delios was dreadful and horrific”.

During the four-day trial, the jury heard Cook went to Mrs Delios’s shop, the North Hobart Grocer, about lunchtime on July 23, 2016, and stabbed her 22 times, including 10 times to the neck.

Michael Delios with his mother Voula Delios in the A and B foodstore in North Hobart back in 2003.

He was arrested about 11pm that day at his aunt’s house and later told police he intended to kill Mrs Delios because she was a “heathen”.

“God has been talking to me and telling me some stuff … he’s shown me the path to kill that heathen,” Cook also told police during an interview that was played to the jury.

Despite people in the area rushing to help Mrs Delios, she died on the shop floor.

Two psychiatrists, one called by the defence and the other by the prosecution, both agreed Cook was experiencing a psychotic episode in the lead up to and at the time of the killing.

“That condition — tragically for Voula Delios — deprived Mr Cook of knowing that the act he was doing was wrong,” defence lawyer Rochelle Mainwaring said.

A photograph of Voula attached to a wreath of flowers laid outside the North Hobart Grocers by her children Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

The prosecution did not dispute the defence’s position that Cook was insane at the time of the killing, and both Mr Coates and Ms Mainwaring said the jury should be satisfied of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.

Justice Geason told the jurors before they began their deliberations that the psychiatrists’ evidence supported such a verdict.

Mr Coates told the jurors it was the Crown’s role to satisfy the jurors beyond reasonable doubt that Cook had committed murder, and it was up to the defence to establish that it was more likely than not Cook was insane at the time.

Mrs Delios’s sister and her daughter Maria left the court in tears after Cook was sentenced.

“She’s not going to come back, is she? No matter what the verdict is,” Maria said.

Voula Delios’s daughter and another family member leaving the Supreme Court in Hobart after the verdict and sentencing. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

EARLIER: NORTH Hobart murder accused Daryl Royston Wayne Cook has been found not guilty by reason of insanity by a Supreme Court jury.

Justice Gregory Geason this afternoon ordered Mr Cook, 36, of Claremont, be detained in a secure mental health facility indefinitely.

Earlier today, the jury was told a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity was very different from a not-guilty verdict.

“A finding of not guilty by reason of insanity … is not the same as an acquittal,” Mr Cook’s lawyer Rochelle Mainwaring told the jury.

Michael Delios with his mother Voula Delios in 2003

“It results in his honour [Justice Gregory Geason] being able to proceed according to special legislation for individuals suffering from mental disease.”

The jury has heard Mr Cook, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had been delusional for some time before he allegedly murdered Mrs Delios, and at the time of the killing.

Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates, SC, said a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity could only be reached if the jury was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the crime was committed.

Mr Coates said it was Crown’s responsibility to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Cook committed murder and it was for the defence to prove it was more likely than not that Mr Cook was so afflicted by mental disease at the time so as not to be criminally

responsible.

In this case, the prosecution agrees Mr Cook was insane at the time.

Mrs Delios died on the floor of her shop on July 23, 2016, after being stabbed 22 times