A jealous divorcee who ran down his former wife's new partner before repeatedly striking him in the head with an axe has been found guilty of murder.
Cabramatta West man Thanh Tran, 79, admitted striking Pok Min Fah to the head with the axe after knocking him down with his car on March 14, 2019.
But he pleaded not guilty to murder and guilty to manslaughter, saying his judgment was substantially impaired due to a loss of control caused by trauma from his lived experience of Cambodian dictator Pol Pot's regime.
The NSW Supreme Court jury deliberated on its verdict for two days before unanimously rejecting Tran's claims, and finding him guilty on Tuesday afternoon.
The elderly man told his daughter that Mr Fah was a bad person who had ruined his family and caused his divorce.
Straight after the attack, he told police he did not know the man and had been acting in self-defence following a hit to his head.
Later, he told a psychologist Mr Fah appeared threatening, carrying a ladder from his old home.
Tran's disordered thinking and answers were a reflection of his suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression, his barrister Janet Manuell SC.
However, the jury rejected this, with one expert finding Tran was largely motivated by anger after his wife divorced him and began a new relationship with the 59-year-old, forcing him to start a new life.
The elderly man will be sentenced at a later date.
