Murder accused had a ‘mental disorder’

8:31am Thursday 22nd May 2008

A man accused of beating a student to death with a cricket bat suffered from a serious mental disorder, a leading psychiatrist told a jury.

Dawood Khan's illness made him capable of unprovoked, motiveless violence, Dr Francesca Harrop told Bradford Crown Court this week.

Khan, an illegal immigrant from Afghanistan, denies murdering Nazeer Ahmed, a Bradford College student, at the home they shared in Rupert Street, Keighley, on May 31 last year.

Mr Ahmed, 22, died under a hail of blows from the bat as he sat defenceless on the sofa, the jury has been told.

Khan was arrested later that day. Mr Ahmed's blood was on his jeans and one of his training shoes.

Khan was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and has been in a medium secure hospital since.

Dr Harrop, consultant forensic psychiatrist for Bradford NHS Trust, told the jury Khan suffered from paranoid psychosis with a mood element.

She said he must have been mentally ill on the day Mr Ahmed was killed.

Dr Harrop said Khan told her he had been unwell and depressed in the days leading up to Mr Ahmed's death.

He was too terrified and anxious to sleep and the ghosts of two children shouted in his head. He said he was the victim of a black magic curse and evil spirits and feared he was dying.

Khan laughed uncontrollably during one medical assessment, pointing at the ceiling as if things were flying around the room, the jury was told.

On his arrest on suspicion of murder, he was underweight and dishevelled. The jury heard Khan had launched several attacks on staff at Stockton Hall Hospital, near York, where he was detained.

Prosecuting counsel Richard Mansell said the attacks came without warning or provocation.

Khan had punched, butted, kicked and bitten healthcare workers.

He told a staff nurse he had a severe pain in his head at 11am every day and banged it on the wall because he did not know what he was doing.

He told another staff member he sometimes "blanked out" and had no control over what he did.

Mr Mansell put it to Khan that he attacked Mr Ahmed suddenly and for no reason.

Khan told the jury Mr Ahmed was his friend and a nice man who helped him with his Urdu.

He denied killing him.

The court heard that Khan was interviewed by detectives at the hospital in November.

He told them: "I was out of the house. I have no knowledge of the murder."

He said he went looking for work in Keighley and ran off when he saw police at the house.

He said Mr Ahmed was working on a computer in his bedroom. The men were good friends and were joking.

When Khan was charged with murder, he told detectives "I haven't done this," the jury heard.

The trial continues.

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