R v Troye Jarrod MILLER

[2008] NSWSC 1038

CITATION:	R v Troye Jarrod MILLER [2008] NSWSC 1038
HEARING DATE(S):	31 October 2008
JUDGMENT DATE :	14 November 2008
JUDGMENT OF:	Fullerton J
DECISION:	1. As provided for in s 38 of the Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act I find the accused not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness. 2. I further order that the accused be detained at the MRRC or at such other place as he may be detained in accordance with Pt 5 Div B of the Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act until released by the due process of law. 3. Pursuant to s 39(3) of the Act I direct that the Registrar of this Court inform the Minister for Health and the Mental Health Tribunal of the terms of this order.
CATCHWORDS:	CRIMINAL LAW - murder - not guilty due to mental illness
LEGISLATION CITED:	Criminal Procedure Act 1986 Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act 1990
CATEGORY:	Principal judgment
PARTIES:	The Crown Troye Jarrod Miller (Accused)
FILE NUMBER(S):	SC 2008/10781
COUNSEL:	T Thorpe (Crown) J Stratton SC (Accused)
SOLICITORS:	Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) E Hawdon (Accused)

IN THE SUPREME COURT
OF NEW SOUTH WALES
COMMON LAW DIVISION
CRIMINAL LIST

FULLERTON J

14 NOVEMBER 2008

2008/10781 R v TROYE JARROD MILLER

JUDGMENT

1 HER HONOUR: On 4 December 2007 Troye Jarrod Miller was charged with the murder of his father, Stephen James Miller. The charge was laid after he voluntarily presented at the Culcairn Police Station and admitted to having killed his father the previous day.

2 On 31 October 2008 he was arraigned before me and pleaded not guilty to the murder. It was common ground that the plea was entered on the grounds of mental illness as provided for in s 22 of the Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act 1990 (the “Mental Health Act”).

3 On 5 September 2008, with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Miller’s trial was set down without a jury pursuant to s 132 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986.

4 The sole issue for determination in the trial before me was whether I was satisfied that Mr Miller should be acquitted of murder on the grounds of mental illness pursuant to the provisions of s 38 of the Mental Health Act.

5 No oral evidence was called at the trial by either the Crown or Mr Miller. By consent, and without objection, their respective cases were presented by the joint tender of a number of statements prepared by investigating police, including an agreed statement of facts, a report by Dr Olav Nielssen, forensic psychiatrist, dated 13 May 2008, obtained by the representatives of the accused, and a report by Professor Greenberg, dated 27 June 2008, obtained by the Crown.

6 The reports reflected a uniformity of opinion that when Mr Miller murdered his father he was suffering from a mental illness that deprived him of the capacity to consider the moral or legal consequences of his behaviour.

7 Accordingly, as provided for by s 38 of the Mental Health Act, I found Mr Miller not guilty of the murder of Stephen James Miller by reason of mental illness and ordered his continued detention at the Metropolitan Reception and Remand Centre (MRRC) or such other place as he may be detained in accordance with Part 5 Division B of the Mental Health Act, until released by due process of law. Pursuant to s 39(3) of the Act I directed that the Registrar of this Court inform the Minister for Health and the Mental Health Tribunal of the terms of this order.

8 After delivering the verdict of not guilty, I indicated that I would publish reasons in support of that finding. The balance of this judgment constitutes those reasons.

The events of 3 December 2007

9 According to the agreed statement of facts, prior to the events which resulted in the deceased’s death, 3 December 2007 was an otherwise ordinary day in the lives of the Miller family. Mr Miller spent the day on the computer in a shed which was located at the back of his parent’s home at Culcairn while his parents busied themselves in the house. On numerous occasions he came into the house. This was not unusual. Later in the afternoon Mrs Miller prepared some dinner after which she retired to have a sleep. The deceased was watching the television. Mr Miller came out of the shed and into the house around 9pm and ate his dinner alone in the kitchen while his parents watched television. The deceased asked Mr Miller, “How’s the dinner mate?” to which he replied “Bloody delicious dad”. Mrs Miller then asked her son if he wanted anything else to eat. He indicated that he would come in later when his parents were ready to eat their evening meal. He did not join them. Apparently they saw nothing unusual in this. After having their dinner Mrs Miller and the deceased resumed watching television.

10 Around 11pm the hall door opened suddenly to reveal Mr Miller holding a sledge hammer in his right hand and a knife in his left hand. Taken somewhat by surprise, his mother asked whether he needed to borrow some of his father’s tools. Mr Miller did not reply. Mrs Miller described her son as having black rings around his eyes and blankness about his face. It would appear that she did not notice anything unusual about her son’s appearance earlier in the day. Mr Miller then lifted up the hammer and held the knife out in front of himself. He walked to the deceased who was seated in an armchair and said, “You’re the demon, you’re the devil, you’ve got to die”. He then swung the hammer and hit the deceased across the head and repeatedly stabbed him with the knife. Mrs Miller tried to stop her son but he pushed her away and continued stabbing the deceased. He said “…we have to get out of here they’re after us, we’ve got to get out of here, we’re not safe”. Mr Miller then stabbed the deceased again, after which he put his hand on his mother’s shoulder and said “Mum I’d never hurt you”. He then stabbed the deceased again. Mr Miller then appealed to his mother asking what they should do. She replied “Run, just run away”. Mr Miller then left the house via the front door.

11 Mrs Miller called the police and the ambulance. Attending ambulance officers noted the stab wounds to the body, a large laceration to the right side of the deceased’s throat and the absence of respiration or pulse. The deceased was pronounced dead. The cause of death was found to be multiple stab wounds.

12 According to the account Mr Miller gave to Professor Greenberg during his interview on 21 June 2008, after killing his father he left his parents’ home and ran away. At some point he dropped the knife. As daylight was approaching Mr Miller said that he saw a cloud in the shape of a hand which was pointing to Culcairn. He took this as a sign that he should return to Culcairn. Apparently he went directly to the Culcairn Police Station from where he telephoned Albury police and informed them that he wanted to surrender himself. Mr Miller told interviewing police at Albury that his father was a demon, and that he attacked him using a hammer and a small kitchen knife. When asked what he was thinking at the time of the attack, Mr Miller replied “That he was a demon”.

Mr Miller’s subjective circumstances

13 Mrs Miller stated that her son had a normal childhood until he was sent to Chevalier College, a boarding school at Bowral, when he was 15. According to her statement to police, it was at this time that a lot of her son’s problems started. Mrs Miller received letters from the school that her son was smoking cigarettes. At around the same time it was revealed to her that one of the teachers was accused of molesting students in Mr Miller’s dormitory. A few weeks later one of the boarders hanged himself. He was found by Mr Miller and some other students. Mrs Miller and the deceased were not informed of these events, nor of the fact that their son subsequently ran away from school and stayed with some friends in Cabramatta. Mrs Miller believes that it was at this time that her son began using drugs. When he was eventually located by his parents Mr Miller refused to return home for two or three weeks. After his return, he was using drugs regularly, experimenting with various illicit substances and consuming cannabis on a daily basis.

14 Mr Miller is currently 33 years of age and was aged 32 at the time of the killing. He married in 1998 but separated from his wife in 2003. They had no children. Since leaving school Mr Miller worked intermittently in a range of semi-skilled positions the longest of which, on his own estimate, lasted 18 months.

Mr Miller’s mental health

15 Issues relating to Mr Miller’s mental health first surfaced in September 2003 when he was involuntarily admitted to Glenside Psychiatric Hospital in South Australia by his wife and father-in-law. They had become concerned about his bizarre behaviour. This behaviour included talking in strange voices, claiming to be god and carrying a sword saying “I will kill them all”. He remained at Glenside for three weeks. Dr Dan Short, a consultant psychiatrist at Glenside, diagnosed Mr Miller with “a schizoaffective disorder with associated cannabis use and drug dependence”.

16 In the discharge summary dated 26 September 2003 Mr Miller’s manic behaviour was elaborated upon so as to include:

“…racing thoughts, increased energy and multiple grandiose delusions – genius IQ, able to defeat Grand Masters in Chess and martial arts, master level drummer.”

17 The discharge summary also noted that Mr Miller was an admitted self-harmer. It detailed an episode when he deliberately burnt his hands. The summary further noted that Mr Miller talked frequently of the id and the ego and his model of a perfect universe based on an unintelligible mathematical formula.

18 The documentation maintained at Glenside also noted that Mr Miller experienced auditory hallucinations. Although he first denied experiencing hallucinations, after several days he acknowledged to medical staff that he had been hearing the voices of ancient warriors over a period of years and that this terrified him. Mr Miller reported that one of the voices was negative and hated him, threatening to kill him and cut him apart. The other voice he heard was positive. He was convinced it was the voice of an angel. Finally he disclosed that when he burnt his hands the voices disappeared and he lost his fear of dying.

19 During his consultations with Dr Short, Mr Miller also admitted to experimenting with various illicit drugs and being a regular cannabis user. In Dr Short’s view, Mr Miller’s drug use was likely to have been triggered by bullying and physical punishment at the hands of school staff as well as the suicide of the friend he had found while he was a boarder.

20 Dr Short prescribed antipsychotic medication Olanzapine and Sodium valproate. Following his discharge from Glenside Mr Miller consulted a private psychiatrist in Adelaide and was prescribed the antipsychotic medication amisulpride (Solian).

21 At about this time Mr Miller and his wife separated and he returned to his parents’ home in Batemans Bay, New South Wales. Mr Miller moved with his parents from Batemans Bay to Culcairn eight months before the murder. He continued taking amisulpride daily and saw a mental health worker at the local community health centre intermittently. Mr Miller told Dr Nielssen that after his hospital admission he became “paranoid of psychiatrists” and refused to see a visiting psychiatrist for a review. Mr Miller was also referred by Centrelink to see Mr Hickey, a psychologist, however he told Professor Greenberg that during these visits he told Mr Hickey as little as possible because he was afraid that he may be admitted to a psychiatric facility.

22 Mr Miller reported to both Dr Nielssen and Professor Greenberg that he became increasingly irregular in taking his medication after leaving South Australia, and that he stopped taking it altogether around the time the family moved from Batemans Bay to Culcairn.

Psychiatric assessments for the purposes of trial

23 On 17 April 2008, Dr Nielssen interviewed Mr Miller at the request of his legal representatives with a view to preparing a psychiatric report and, in particular, seeking the doctor’s opinion as to whether or not Mr Miller was suffering from a disease of the mind at the time of the killing which caused a defect of reason such as to deprive him of an appreciation of the nature and quality of his act.

24 During the course of the interview with Dr Nielssen, Mr Miller stated that he started to believe that demons were trying to kill him. He said:

“I started to connect that they were fallen watchers or angels…I heard the voice of an angel who introduced himself as Gregory … they were watching me…judging me…I could hear them talking about me”.

Mr Miller also told Dr Nielssen of his belief that he was the reincarnation of Seth. I note that Seth is a character in the Book of Enoch, an ancient religious text.

25 Mr Miller also stated that in the years prior to killing his father he came to believe that his father was one of the angels. When asked if he had spoken to his father about his beliefs, Mr Miller told Dr Nielssen that shortly before 3 December 2007 he asked his father about his associations with angels which his father denied. Mr Miller claimed that he later heard his father admit that he was a demon.

26 According to his account to Dr Nielssen, on the night of the killing Mr Miller heard that angels were doing something to his computer which caused him to remove the hard drive. Once he had done this, he heard the angels getting angry and cocking their weapons causing him to believe that they were preparing to kill him and his mother.

27 At the conclusion of the assessment Dr Nielssen diagnosed Mr Miller with chronic schizophrenia and a substance abuse disorder which was in remission. Accordingly, Dr Nielssen found:

“…he was acutely mentally ill at the time of the offence and…has the defence of mental illness open to him. He had a disease of the mind in the form of schizophrenic illness that caused a defect of reason in the form of the delusion that his father was a demon and that he was in immediate danger of being attacked. At the time he did not appreciate the nature and quality of his act as he believed his father was a demon who was about to kill him and did not appreciate that his actions were wrong, as he believed that he was acting in self defence and to protect his mother.”

28 On 21 June 2008, Mr Miller was interviewed by Professor Greenberg at the request of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Professor Greenberg was also asked to determine whether or not Mr Miller was fit to be tried, and whether or not a defence of mental illness under the Mental Health Act was available to him.

29 Mr Miller gave Professor Greenberg virtually the same account of the killing and the events which preceded it as he had given to Dr Nielssen, namely, hearing voices, developing beliefs about angels and demons, and hearing cocked weapons of angry angels wanting to kill him and his mother. Mr Miller also told Professor Greenberg that immediately following the killing he was not afraid of the police but of the demons, and that because his mother would not leave the house he left and ran fearing for his life.

30 At the conclusion of the assessment Professor Greenberg diagnosed Mr Miller with schizoaffective disorder and polysubstance abuse/dependence. Professor Greenberg was also of the opinion that at the time of the killing Mr Miller was experiencing acute psychotic symptoms and suffered from a disease of the mind. Professor Greenberg concluded that at the time of the offence Mr Miller was suffering from a defect of reason and did not understand the nature and quality of his actions such that the defence of mental illness was available to him. Neither Professor Greenberg nor Dr Nielssen considered Mr Miller to be unfit to be tried.

31 Mr Miller reported to Dr Nielssen that he still heard voices from time to time but not with the same intensity as around the time of the offence. He said he suffered from anxiety and intrusive memories of killing his father. When interviewed by Professor Greenberg Mr Miller denied having any continuing auditory or visual hallucinations.

32 Both Dr Nielssen and Professor Greenberg agreed that Mr Miller has responded to the antipsychotic and antidepressant medications which have been prescribed to him since his admission into the Mental Health area of the MRRC, but that he will require long term treatment and close supervision over an extended period of time. Professor Greenberg noted:

“Mr Miller suffers from a chronic psychotic illness, namely a Schizoaffective Disorder. He will require ongoing psychiatric treatment and management care for many decades and probably for the rest of his life. He is currently taking antipsychotic and antidepressant medication. He is currently compliant with such treatment and currently has no acute psychotic symptoms. He will require a comprehensive risk assessment and management plan and monitoring of his psychotic illness over an extended period of time.”

Conclusion

33 Were Mr Miller to have been responsible as a matter of law for his conduct on the night of 3 December 2007 he would have been punished as a criminal offender. However, because of his mental state at the time he murdered his father, and because in our system of justice only the mentally sound are punished, he will, instead, be subject to the control of a tribunal constituted under the Mental Health Act, a statutory body that is charged with the task of seeking to achieve a balance between an individual’s right to treatment, protection and care when they suffer from mental illness, and the interests and rights of the community to safety and protection.

34 In the special facts of this case I am satisfied that justice has been done under the law by the orders I have made.

**********