A MAN who strangled his 18-year-old girlfriend to death at Morpeth in 2020 because he thought she was a "demon" does not have a mental health impairment defence available because the psychosis he was suffering was caused "solely" by using LSD and cannabis, a Newcastle Supreme Court jury has been told.
There is no dispute it was Jordan Brodie Miller, now 21, who killed his girlfriend Emerald Wardle at a home in Galway Crescent in the early hours of June 20, 2020.
He confessed that night, telling police he thought his girlfriend was a "demon" who was "sucking the life out of him". But Mr Miller has pleaded not guilty to murder and has raised a defence of mental health impairment, with a two-week trial focusing on his mental state around the time of the killing and what caused him to be in a "psychotic state".
The prosecution case is Mr Miller's mental state was a result of drug induced psychosis, linked to LSD and cannabis he used in the days before Ms Wardle was killed.
But the defence, led by Public Defender Peter Krisenthal, say Mr Miller was suffering from a first episode of psychosis, in the form of an underlying chronic schizophrenia.
The two sides delivered their closing addresses on Tuesday, attempting to "crystallise" and "drill down" into the crucial issue of Mr Miller's mental health.
Crown prosecutor Lee Carr, SC, told the jury Mr Miller did not have a mental health impairment because his condition was caused "solely by the temporary effect of ingesting" LSD and cannabis.
He pointed to the reports of Professor David Greenberg who opined Mr Miller's psychotic episode was "temporary" and related to his use of drugs. Mr Carr said Professor Greenberg gave evidence that it was premature to definitively diagnose Mr Miller with schizophrenia.
"He is clearly saying if there was another psychotic episode in the absence of drugs then in his opinion that would solidify a diagnosis of schizophrenia," Mr Carr said of Professor Greenberg. "But as we know there hasn't been, nothing at all."
Mr Carr also said schizophrenia was an "ongoing illness", not a temporary one, and in order to qualify for a diagnosis signs of disturbance must persist for at least six months.
"Again, that is not the case here," he said.
During his closing remarks, Mr Krisenthal asked whether the Crown case was as strong as Mr Carr claimed.
"Look at the totality of the evidence," he said. "Is it really plausible that the use of drugs was the sole cause, the only cause, of Jordan Miller's psychotic condition."
Justice Richard Cavanagh will sum up on Thursday.
