North Hobart murder accused Daryl Roysten Wayne Cook ‘couldn’t resist the urge to kill a heathen’, Supreme Court told

UPDATED: A SCHIZOPHRENIC man accused of murdering much-loved shopkeeper Voula Delios was on a mission and could have killed again, a Hobart court has been told.

Flowers near the scene of the shop where Voula Delios died. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

A SCHIZOPHRENIC who is accused of murdering North Hobart shopkeeper Voula Delios was on a mission and could have killed again, the Supreme Court in Hobart has heard.

Forensic psychiatrist Michael Jordan, who interviewed Daryl Royston Wayne Cook twice from prison in June 2017, yesterday told the court Mr Cook was in the midst of a psychotic episode at the time of the killing.

Mr Cook, 36, has pleaded not guilty to the 2016 murder on the grounds of insanity.

Dr Jordan said Mr Cook thought he was a part of a medieval Catholic military order, Knights Templar, which was responsible for ridding the world of “heathens and soulless people”.

“I think he had a plan to continue the behaviour that we saw on July 23,” Dr Jordan said.

“He believed if he was successful in completing actions of those that occurred on July 23, and possible subsequent ones, he would be promoted and reach a higher level, maybe even a God.

“He identified Mrs Delios as a heathen and suspected that he had met her before. He said God would have stopped him if she had a soul.

“He was content he had completed the first phase of his mission. As for why he didn’t commit more offences immediately, I really can’t know.”

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Tasmania Police officers interviewing people after the fatal stabbing of Voula Delios in North Hobart. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Before making his way to North Hobart, Mr Cook, of Claremont, had targeted a nearby Muslim prayer room to look for a heathen but found it empty, Dr Jordan told the court.

Dr Jordan said Mr Cook also sat at Banjo’s Bakery the day before the alleged murder pointing out people he believed to be heathens walking down the street.

The court heard Mr Cook was first diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2003 and had shown signs of delusions for about two months before his release from Risdon Prison on July 22, 2016, but no one took his symptoms seriously.

Dr Jordan said it was his professional opinion that Mr Cook’s mental illness was directly linked to his behaviour and actions.

“Far from believing it was the wrong thing to do, he believed it was the right thing to do,” Dr Jordan said.

“He couldn’t resist the drive to kill a heathen.”

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

State director of forensic mental health services Leila Kavanagh agreed with Dr Jordan, today telling the court that even after his arrest, Mr Cook thought God would come to save him.

“A person with psychosis is completely out of touch with the real world,” she said.

“He believed police would become part of the army.

“After his return to prison, Mr Cook believed he was receiving messages from the radio and TV and was counting down the days until he would be lifted out of the prison by God for the start of the war against the heathens.”

Mr Cook allegedly went into the North Hobart Grocer about lunchtime on July 23, 2016 — the third time he had visited the store that day — and stabbed Mrs Delios 22 times.

Crown prosecutor Jane Ansell told the court Ms Delios’s bloodied body was discovered by a regular customer.

Mr Cook was arrested at his aunt’s house about 11pm on the same day as the murder.

The jury was told Mr Cook only agreed to take anti-psychotic medication in mid November 2016.

Neither the defence or prosecution dispute Mrs Delios died as a result of Mr Cook’s actions, but both say he was insane at the time and should not be held criminally responsible.

Only a jury can decide if someone is not guilty by reason of insanity.

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