Mental health defence flagged in trial of son accused of killing father with a crowbar
The trial of Milenko Snjegota is expected to conclude with a judgement in December. (Supplied)
In short:
A court has heard a son accused of murdering his father likely had an inhibited ability to reason due to his chronic schizophrenia.
Milenko Snjegota is facing a judge-only trial after pleading not guilty to murdering 74-year-old Vitomir Snjegota at their home near Wollongong in 2024.
What's next?
Justice Stephen Campbell will hand down a his decision in December.
A New South Wales court has heard a man accused of murdering his father with a crowbar in a home near Wollongong should be dealt with under the Mental Health Act if he is found guilty.
Milenko Snjegota has pleaded not guilty to killing his father, 74-year-old Vitomir Snjegota, who was found dead in the backyard of the pair's shared Farmborough Heights home in February 2024.
The 49-year-old, who has a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia, is facing a judge-only trial under Justice Stephen Campbell in the Supreme Court.
In Wollongong today the final arguments of the defence and prosecution were put forward and Justice Campbell retired to make his decision.
The Crown alleged that Vitomir Snjegota was severely assaulted by his son with a crowbar while he was mowing his lawn, and that the crime scene was then cleaned with water from hose in the backyard.
Vitomir Snjegota was found dead in the backyard of the pair's shared home on a quiet Illawarra street. (ABC Illawarra: Tim Fernandez)
The defence agreed that an attack occurred on the Saturday and that the body was discovered by a neighbour that Sunday.
The court heard there were two issues to be reckoned with — whether Mr Snjegota could be proven to have murdered his father and, if so, the impact his mental state at the time had on his criminal culpability.
The trial included evidence that Mr Snjegota did not accept his diagnosis of schizophrenia and had been resistant to treatment, leading to a fractious relationship with members of his family.
The question of murder
In her closing submission Crown prosecutor Nerissa Keay argued her case had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
She revisited evidence that included blood that matched the victim's found on the shoes of the accused and bloodstains around the body that did not lead away from the premises.
Images of the crowbar found in the garage were also shown to the court.
Ms Keay argued it was the murder weapon and had been cleaned with bleach, several bottles of which were found in the home.
She also again outlined the argument that Mr Snjegota was home at the time of the murder and afterwards, and could not have failed to notice the murder occurring or his father's body in the backyard before it was discovered.
The court also saw notes, emails and heard witness testimony that the Crown argued proved there was hostility between Mr Snjegota and his family, particularly his father, mainly centring around his resistance to treatment for his schizophrenia.
"There was a high degree of force in the infliction of those injuries consistent with personal connection and intense emotion connected to deceased," Ms Keay said.
The Crown argued Mr Snjegota killed his father with a crowbar in an "intense" attack. (ABC Illawarra: Tim Fernandez)
Defence barrister Scott Fraser argued the Crown had failed to prove the case.
"It's a circumstantial case [and] a lot of the circumstances lack clarity or have ambiguity," he said.
Mr Fraser told the court the father and son lived separate lives within the home and argued the accused could have failed to notice his father's body because he had created "a little world for himself" in his upstairs residence.
He argued it had not been sufficiently proven that his client was at home during and after the attack and that the accused had been purchasing large amounts of bleach for some years.
"My submission is your honour would look at the case and harbour a doubt," Mr Fraser said.
Mental health a factor
Mr Fraser said if Mr Snjegota was found guilty he should be found not criminally responsible under the Mental Health Act.
He referred to evidence from two psychiatric evaluations, both of which he said diagnosed chronic schizophrenia and found it likely that Mr Snjegota's ability to reason whether an act was considered "wrong" was inhibited at the time.
Ms Keay told the court that the prosecution accepted "significant" mental illness played a role in the case, saying it "gave rise to the circumstances".
Mr Fraser said a special sentence under the Mental Health Act, in which Mr Snjegota would be found not criminally responsible for the killing, would be "appropriate".
"The experts are agreed, the parties are agreed and there really is no evidence pointing any other way," he told the court.
Justice Campbell will make his judgement on December 11.