The Queen v Peter John Gibson

Peter John Gibson was charged with assault and recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty and elected to be tried by judge alone. The central issue was whether Gibson's conduct was voluntary. The defence argued that his actions were involuntary and amounted to sane automatism. The prosecution accepted that there was evidence to raise the issue of automatism, but argued that there was no evidence to support a verdict of not guilty by reason of sane automatism. The court found that the evidence did not support a finding of sane automatism. However, the evidence did establish that Gibson was suffering from a psychotic disorder such that he was not criminally responsible for his actions. The court found him not guilty by reason of mental impairment on all counts and ordered that he submit to the jurisdiction of the Mental Health Tribunal.