Gruesome details have been revealed about the deaths of a West Australian couple allegedly murdered by their son, who is claiming he was not of sound mind at the time.
WARNING: This article contains content that readers may find distressing.
Robert George Dent,58, is due to stand trial in the Supreme Court in June over the deaths of his 74-year-old mother Bernice and 75-year-old father Colin, in the South West town of Capel in Western Australia in September 2021.
He has pleaded not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
Mr Dent applied for his trial to be heard by a judge sitting alone, and on Monday, Supreme Court Justice Joseph McGrath ruled it was in the interests of justice for a jury not to be involved in the case.
In his judgement, Justice McGrath outlined the statement of material facts against Mr Dent, which described him as a recluse, who lived with his parents but had not been seen by neighbours for years.
The statement of facts states Colin Dent was last seen alive on Monday, September 20, when he went to buy a newspaper.
Son allegedly tried to frame relatives
It is alleged the next day he and his wife were, separately, bludgeoned with a mallet, while Mrs Dent also had her throat cut.
The statement of alleged facts also says Robert Dent then stayed in the house for the next few days.
He cleaned the blood and "took steps to make it appear his parents had been killed by relatives", including writing statements on walls and doors of the house stating they were involved in "satanic rituals".
He is also alleged to have drawn inverted crosses on his body and mutilated himself and sprayed the house, and his father, with cleaning products to try to mask the smell.
It is alleged that three days later, he tried to kill himself by mutilating himself, before eventually calling triple-0 to ask for assistance for the injuries he had inflicted on himself.
In a police interview, he claimed "radionics machines controlled by his relatives [had] told him to kill his parents and himself".
"He believed the motive for his relatives' actions stemmed from a perceived family dispute dating back to 1991," the alleged statement of facts said.
Psychiatric witnesses to take stand
State prosecutors did not oppose the application for a judge-alone trial, but it could only be granted if approved by a Supreme Court judge.
In his ruling, Justice McGrath said the evidence in the trial would rely to a significant degree on the evidence of expert psychiatric witnesses, one of whom has suggested that Mr Dent had "a long standing, undiagnosed and untreated mental illness."
Justice McGrath ruled that because the sole issue at the trial would be the accused man's mental capacity at the time, it would be more properly considered by a judge sitting without a jury.
Mr Dent has been held in a secure psychiatric facility since he was arrested after calling triple-0 in September 2021.
