Electric drill killer not murderer because he had drug-induced mental disorders, court hears
Psychiatrists claim Safdar Husnain’s responsibility for the crime was diminished as he believed his girlfriend had turned into a witch who would kill him if he did not act first
Lawyers for a security guard accused of murdering his girlfriend with an electric drill tabled a five-part defence on Wednesday calling for the jury to reduce the charge to manslaughter or even acquit him.
The argument emerged as counsels concluded their cases in the murder trial over the death of Andrea Bayr, 25, who left behind four children after she was choked and stabbed in the face with a 15.5cm (six-inch) electric drill on March 29, 2016.
The High Court heard her boyfriend Safdar Husnain, 28, had admitted to killing her after taking drugs that made him see a snake in the moon and hear voices that warned of his demise at the hands of his lover.
But psychiatrists found that he was suffering from drug-induced mental disorders, which they said would diminish his responsibility for the killing.
Dr Kavin Chow Kit-wan, summoned by the prosecution to rebut the defence finding, concluded that Husnain had substance-induced psychotic disorder and stimulant-use disorders in relation to cannabis and methamphetamine, more commonly known as Ice. It was her view that “if Husnain did not take the substance on the night of offence, he would not have experienced psychotic symptoms which led to the subsequent killing”.
Man accused of killing girlfriend with electric drill ‘loved her madly’, Hong Kong court hears
Defence counsel David Boyton on Wednesday invited the seven-member jury to consider a five-part defence: three parts of which related to the three mental disorders identified and the remaining two on manslaughter by unlawful act and self defence.