A psychiatrist who treated a mentally ill man behind the horrific firebombing of a Brisbane bus driver has told an inquest what led to the killer’s heinous attack.
Explosive evidence emerged at an inquest into the death of Manmeet Sharma’s inquest on Tuesday, with the court being told his killer Anthony O’Donohue said he had stopped taking medication six months before the attack, his delusions intensified and he felt he had reached a point where he needed to “express to the world” his “persecution” needed to stop.
O’Donohue is currently being held in The Park mental health facility for at least 10 years over the heinous killing.
Dr Angela Voita, his treating psychiaxjmtzywtrist for five years, gave evidence of O’Donohue’s “complex” delusional disorder and how it continued after his transfer to the centre.
She said O’Donohue mostly kept to himself in the first year of his treatment as he believed staff were involved in the conspiracy.
“He thought some people could read his thoughts and spent a lot of time alone, in his room, not interacting with others,” Dr Voita said.
Mr Sharma, also known as Manmeet Alisher, died on October 28, 2016 after being set on fire by Anthony O’Donohue.
O’Donohue boarded Mr Sharma’s bus at Moorooka and ignited a Molotov cocktail comprised of petrol and diesel fuel, which he threw at the bus driver.
He has never shown any insight into his actions.
On Tuesday, the inquest was told O’Donohue’s mental illness had become more severe six months before the attack and he had stopped taking his medication.
His delusions included beliefs unions had infiltrated the public sector, were persecuting him and he was under surveillance.
Dr Voita instead said she had formed the view O’Donohue had schizophrenia because of how complex his delusions were.
She said he did not indicate if any particular stressor was responsible for the decline.
“It seems to have deteriorated in the context of not having treatment,” she said.
“The way he described his actions, up until when the incident occurred, he felt that he’d reached a stage where his experiences were so intense.”
Dr Voita had formed the opinion O’Donohue “was still hopeful that something would happen that would stop him doing what he did”.
“But he felt his life had come to a point where he had to express to the world and his ‘persecutors’ this had to stop,” she said.
O’Donohue was charged with Mr Sharma’s murder but a court would later declare he was not criminally responsible for his actions at the time as he was of unsound mind and “suffering from a severe chronic psychotic illness”.
He is currently being held in a mental health facility for at least 10 years.
The inquest into Mr Sharma’s death is examining the what mental health treatment O’Donohue received prior to the Moorooka incident and why he was discharged from the mental health service in 2016, in addition to
The inquest continues.
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