A Victorian man, who brutally killed his mother because he believed she was a “demon”, and who was involved in a motorbike crash, will be waiting six months for a bed in a psychiatric hospital.
Trent Bird was found not guilty by reason of mental impairment in October last year after he killed his mother at his Hedley property in the state’s east.
In the week before the killing in August 2020, his mental state was deteriorating and he had a dispute with a partner, the Supreme Court of Victoria was told at a special hearing.
The body of 73-year-old Lorraine Bird was found at the property after her son was hurt when he veered his motorbike into the path of an oncoming car.
“I’m not sure if I have to die or go to a psych ward. I’ve been fighting demons all day. I killed a demon in front of my tractor up the back paddock,” Mr Bird said, according to a witness.
When emergency services arrived at the scene, he took swings at the police and threw sand and stones as he lashed out at people.
He was yelling about “killing pigs” and “putting a stake” through a demon, the court was told at the special hearing last year.
Mr Bird was taken to hospital with a broken pelvis. Police checked the Pearson Rd property because they were concerned about his mother.
They found a tractor in a gully on the property and made the horrific discovery of the woman’s body “under some hay on the forks of the tractor”.
Psychiatrists found Bird was psychotic at the time of the brutal killing and believed his mother was taken over by an entity “in league with dark forces that were closing in on him” to kill him, the court was told.
But despite being found mentally impaired at the time, a hearing in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday was told there were still no beds available in a specialist mental hospital.
His lawyer told the court he hoped Mr Bird would be able to be released on a non-custodial supervision order, but Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said it would be a “complete novelty”.
“In nearly 18 years … I’ve never had it suggested that someone can commit such a hoxjmtzywrrendous and violent and unexplained crime and be released on a non-custodial order after such a short period,” Justice Hollingworth said.
Mr Bird still had very little insight into his mental illness, she said.
She said it was “extremely frustrating” no beds were available, but there was a waiting list to get into the facility.
The matter will return to court later this year.
