Judge seeks psych advice on murder

A Perth judge has deferred sentencing of an Afghan refugee for the murder of another refugee so he can hear from psychiatrists whether mental health problems contributed to the crime.
Osman Ahmadyar, 38, has pleaded guilty to murdering Abed Ahymad Shah, 29, at his unit in the southern Perth suburb of Victoria Park in February 2009.
During sentencing submissions in the WA Supreme Court in Perth on Friday, Justice Stephen Hall heard the pair came to Australia on the same asylum seeker boat in 2001.
They both stayed in the Port Hedland Detention Centre and, after gaining refugee status, worked and flatted together in Perth.
But, prosecution lawyer David Dempster said, their friendship soured in 2008 after a drug-fuelled violent incident in which Ahmadyar lashed out at ambulance officers and bit a police officer on the arm.
A restraining order was placed on him, probihiting him from going within 100 metres of Shah's unit.
Ahmadyar moved to Victoria but flew back to Perth in February 2009 and went to see Shah.
The court heard that Shah was tied to his bed and stabbed repeatedly with a sharp implement before a cut to his throat caused massive blood loss and his death.
Ahmadyar stole Shah's bank cards and flew back to Victoria.
When subsequently arrested, he refused to co-operate and became catatonic in custody, unable even to dress or feed himself, the court heard.
On Friday, he sat in the dock with his head bowed as defence lawyer Anthony Eyers outlined his flight from the Taliban in Afghanistan and his "waxing and waning" bouts of severe mental illness.
He said Ahmadyar's father was killed by the Taliban in 1997 and his own abduction and torture had prompted him to flee Afghanistan and make his way to Australia in 2001.
After working in Perth, he moved to Queensland to take up a job in a clothing shop but a series of sexual offences against female co-workers landed him in jail in 2003, Mr Eyers said.
While in jail, Ahmadyar "slashed himself with a razor and wrote his name in blood on the floor of the cell", he said.
Ahmadyar was released from custody in September 2006 but continued to have mental health problems. He was diagnosed as suffering from major depression, ongoing alcohol and cannabis abuse and hallucinations, Mr Eyers said.
His condition could lead to "a sudden and terrible loss of self control", Mr Eyers told the court.
Mr Eyers said Ahmadyar's longstanding mental health problems were plainly linked to his crime and, therefore, the question of his moral culpability when it came to sentencing.
But, prosecutor Mr Dempster said the crown argued there was no evidence to show Ahmadyar was mentally ill when he killed Shah, plus, the degree of violence used was extreme and his risk of re-offending high.
Justice Hall said he needed more clarification from psychiatrists about Ahmadyar's culpability.
"The question is: to what extent, if at all, did the mental illness that the offender has suffered episodically over a number of years, contribute to that conduct."
Justice Hall adjourned the case to February 18 to hear from two psychiatrists on that issue.