Matthew Flame has been found guilty of the brutal manslaughter while high on drugs of rock icon Angry Anderson’s son Liam Anderson.
Matthew Flame, 22, was found guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of murder by a jury just after 10.20am on Thursday.
After deliberating for more than three days, following a three-week trial in the NSW Supreme Court the jury delivered its verdict to Justice Richard Button.
He will be sentenced on December 8.
Flame had pleaded not guilty to murder by way of mental illness, his defence counsel saying “there was no dispute that Mr Flame killed his friend (but) … when he killed Liam Anderson, he was labouring under a severe psychiatric illness, schizophrenia”.
Crown Prosecutor Gareth Christofi told the trial it was the Crown’s case that at the time Mr Flame “caused the death of Liam Anderson he had a healthy mind and his psychosis was caused by a voluntary consumption of drugs”.
During the trial, witnesses revealed the shocking detail of Flame’s savage beating of his once best friend.
The trial also heard that Flame had thought he was the Archangel Raphael who could speak to the dead, and that Liam was a “demon … of Satan” and had to be killed.
Flame’s psychosis came after he had consumed up to 13 MDMA tablets, 10-15 alcoholic drinks – beer and bourbon – and had smoked several cones of cannabis.
The prosecution argued that his state of mind was instead drug-induced psychosis after he had voluntarily consumed the substances during a night of heavy partying with Liam and others.
The court heard that after taking his last MDMA tablet for the night, after 5am, Flame had felt himself succumbing to a dark force telling him demons were out of kill him.
He had left a party at Queenscliff, on the northern beaches of Sydney and Liam had followed him outside telling the others, “he’s my best friend, I would never leave my best friend”.
Flame then turned on Liam, believing at the time that Liam was “angry like an evil spirit” and began lashing out in what would prove a prolonged and fatal assault.
Liam is one of four children of Gary Stephen “Angry” Anderson, the lead vocalist of the band Rose Tattoo and a prominent youth advocate.
An aspiring rapper under the name Ranford Bigsby, he had been a close friend of Flame’s for about three years before his death at the age of 26.
HOW THE NIGHT UNFOLDED
The fatal incident happened around 6am on Sunday, November 4, 2018, on Sydney’s northern beaches, after a Saturday night out with several other friends which had begun at 7pm.
A passer-by testified at the trial about the dramatic final moments of a “desperate” Liam, lying face down, his head and torso covered in blood while being beaten by Flame.
US tourist Trevor Buchert had been on an early morning walk to check out the surf conditions on Freshwater Beach, below Pavilion Park at Queenscliff, when he heard the sound of someone grunting.
He came upon Flame assaulting Liam, who was lying partly on grass and partly on a concrete footpath.
“I … have seen a male standing up and kicking another male who was lying … face down,” Mr Buchert said in a police statement read out in the court.
“He … continued attacking, using his feet in a stomping motion … on the head of the helpless male, placing all his weight in the stomp.
“The helpless male … was lying face down, he had his torso on the concrete, but his head on the grass.
“I could hear his head impacting as the male stomped on the head.
“The blows were so severe I thought they would be fatal.”
Mr Buchert decided to call out, saying “what are you doing”, and the attacker looked up, expressionless, with his eyes “wide open” and “showed no emotion” and “said nothing”.
It was at this point that Liam made his final movement, turning his bloodied head to Mr Buchert and begged, “help me, help me, help me”.
Flame continued to stomp on Liam, who made no further sound or movement.
Mr Buchert dialled triple-0 and when police arrived they ordered Flame, who was sitting on Liam’s upper body, off him and put Liam in the recovery position.
They saw serious bleeding from Liam’s eyes, forehead, mouth, nose and ears, and a constable squeezed his hand – trying to get a squeeze back.
He heard Liam snoring, which meant he was breathing, and paramedics arranged for a CareFlight Ambulance helicopter to meet them below on Freshwater Beach.
Liam was transported by ambulance to the beach, but he died on a stretcher waiting for a helicopter to take him to hospital.
The trial heard from the last person to see Flame and Liam before the attack.
Nadia Khalil, a friend of both men, broke down while testifying via video link, saying Liam “was a beautiful man”.
“He was very kind, he was very kind to me and he was very kind to his friends.”
She described the final moments inside her Queenscliff apartment, when Flame had become withdrawn after taking a final MDMA capsule.
“Initially he was very hyped, very excited,” Ms Khalil said, but then “he closed off, he wasn’t very vocal”.
“He was quite hot he was flushed, started to remove items of his clothing, tried to lie down for a little.
“He walked out of my home and he proceeded to go get some fresh air towards the road.
“I followed him (and told him) that everything would be OK if he came back inside.
“He appeared to look like he was following me … but no, he didn’t make it back inside the house.”
The last time Ms Khalil saw Flame, he was on a grass patio outside her flat, with Liam.
“Liam was behind me and he asked Matthew if he’d like to go for a chat.”
Ms Khalil said, in statement to police which was read out in court, “Matthew walked out of my apartment.
“We were worried about him because he was not in a good place to be out on the street by himself.
“I ran out and so did Bigsby [Liam Anderson].
“I begged Matthew to come inside. I said ‘please come inside, please come inside’.
“I tried to pull Matthew back but he shrugged me off.
“Ranford Bigsby [Liam] said he would go with Matthew.
“I told Bigsby to come back inside but he wouldn’t. He said ‘he’s my best friend, I would never leave my best friend’.”
Reassuring her he would stay with Flame, the court heard, Mr Anderson accompanied him to Pavilion Reserve, a small nearby park, about a few hundred metres away.
It was there the fatal assault happened.
In cross examination by Mr Flame’s counsel, John Stratton, SC, Ms Khalil agreed that she had previously taken MDMA with Matthew Flame, and that his behaviour on the night was “out of character to how he had behaved on other occasions”.
The trial heard from friends of Flame who described the mood earlier on the night out as “ecstatic, excited”.
Cassidy Connell, a childhood friend of Flame’s, told the court that “we were all pretty drunk” by the time the group had attended a hip hop event at the Burdekin Hotel in Sydney’s CBD.
She described Mr Flame, Mr Anderson and another man present as “best friends … like a trio”.
She said that Mr Flame in recent years had become a regular gym goer and had been “quite small and skinny … grew a bit bigger”.
Asked by the Crown about how the accused’s stature compared with that of Mr Anderson, Ms Connell said Liam “was quite small, a bit smaller than me. Matt was larger than Liam.”
After his arrest, Flame was taking to Manly Police Station where he believed officers were “demons or Satan’s followers” before the psychotic episode ended.
Later while in prison, Mr Flame was diagnosed with a schizophrenic disorder.
His barrister, John Stratton SC, said that as a result of schizophrenia, Flame “had hallucinations that led him to believe his friend was a demon and was trying to kill him.
“And that he had no choice but to kill his good friend, Liam Anderson, who he believed to be a demon,” Mr Stratton said.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Stephen Allnutt told the court Flame had exhibited possible early signs of schizophrenia, including OCD behaviour his mother had reported him displaying aged 14 or 15.
Another was a ”weird” experience at work four months before the killing when Mr Flame had also combined taking alcohol, cannabis and multiple MDMA tablets the night before.
Mr Flame had “gone home from work feeling unwell. He thought the men at work were devils and demons … he was starting to spin out,” the court heard.
Dr Allnutt said Mr Flame’s “psychosis was unmasked for the first time” but his schizophrenic “condition would have emerged independent of substances at some time”.
Under cross-examination by Mr Christofi, Dr Allnutt agreed the OCD or the episode at work were not “definitively” conclusive of schizophrenia symptoms.
Asked by Mr Christofi if the work episode was merely a manifestation of the night before’s intoxication or withdrawal therefrom, Dr Allnutt said, “Yes, I stated that.”
When Mr Christofi asked whether in the lead-up to the assault Mr Flame had been well-adjusted, well motivated and enjoying his life, Mr Allnutt said, “Correct.”
He gave the same reply when asked if Mr Flame had been “a young man with a healthy mind” and if the psychosis on the night was short-lived.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMimAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC9jcmltZS9tYXR0aGV3LWZsYW1lLWd1aWx0eS1vZi1tYW5zbGF1Z2h0ZXItb2Ytcm9jay1pY29uLWFuZ3J5LWFuZGVyc29ucy1zb24vbmV3cy1zdG9yeS8zMmVmMTQ1YmRhMzNmNTY2NTIxZDEwNzYxNWUyZDdkZdIBmAFodHRwczovL2FtcC5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9uYXRpb25hbC9jcmltZS9tYXR0aGV3LWZsYW1lLWd1aWx0eS1vZi1tYW5zbGF1Z2h0ZXItb2Ytcm9jay1pY29uLWFuZ3J5LWFuZGVyc29ucy1zb24vbmV3cy1zdG9yeS8zMmVmMTQ1YmRhMzNmNTY2NTIxZDEwNzYxNWUyZDdkZQ?oc=5
2020-11-11 23:42:56Z
52781183234344
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Matthew Flame guilty of manslaughter of rock icon Angry Anderson’s son - NEWS.com.au"
Post a Comment