A paranoid schizophrenic who believed his doting mother was at the heart of a mafia plot to end his life has been found guilty of killing her.
A jury at the High Court in Perth took a little over three hours to deliver the majority verdict against Dundee man Mark McDonald.
They rejected his defence’s position that he had been insane at the time of his attack upon 66-year-old Veronica Reid.
McDonald will now spend the 10 weeks prior to sentencing at the Carstairs State Mental Hospital, where he will receive treatment for what the court has accepted is a serious mental disorder.
Over the eight-day trial the jury of eight men and seven women heard evidence from six of Scotland’s most respected psychiatrists.
McDonald, witnesses said, had become lost in a detailed and long-standing paranoia in which he believed he was a member of the “Dundee Mafia” and had been targeted for execution.
As his mental illness developed, the High Court heard that he came to believe that his doting mother, Mrs Reid, was at the heart of that plot.
That led him to entice her to a garage at the home they shared in Kelso Place, Dundee, on July 31 last year with the intention at least initially of threatening her into a confession.
Matters changed, however, and McDonald launched a frenzied knife attack upon Mrs Reid, causing over 100 injuries from which she died.Police found victim’s bodyHe then admitted himself to the Carseview Centre in Dundee for treatment and staff there became concerned for his mother’s safety.
Officers from Tayside Police found Mrs Reid’s body at the family home the following day.
As the evidence was given, the depth of the accused’s delusions were laid bare to jurors, who heard that his “paranoid constructions” were long-standing and unshakable despite all evidence to the contrary.
The court heard that the accused had considered suicide following the realisation that he had lost, in his words, “my mum, my greatest pal, my confidante.”
Nonetheless he was adamant that his mother had been involved in a plot to see him mutilated and murdered despite what had in the past appeared to be a supportive and close relationship.
McDonald believed he had been a mafia don and part of the “Dundee Mafia” since the age of two, and credited this with having kept him safe throughout his childhood and education.
However, he had come to believe that there was a plot to have him mutilated and killed possibly linked to him informing in a drugs case.
While there was no basis in fact for any of these beliefs, various psychiatrists gave evidence that they were deeply held by the accused and he could not be moved from them.’Messages’ in everyday lifeWitnesses including Dr Lindsay Thomson and Dr Duncan Alcock, both consultant forensic psychiatrists at Carstairs State Hospital, detailed his complicated delusions.
They told jurors that McDonald had begun to see coded messages in a variety of everyday occurrences.
He believed that his mother was acting increasingly suspiciously cutting her phone calls short when he was around and hiding his car keys in a breadbin.
McDonald also believed that she had been crushing tablets in his food for years in a bid to kill him, had been trying to give him cancer and had been putting his affairs in order prior to his death.
In the fact that a pair of nail scissors were left in a V shape on his bedside table he saw a sign that he was to be brutally attacked.
McDonald was also convinced that neighbours were wearing black clothing to signify his imminent death, while also passing information about him to members of the Dundee Mafia who were looking to cause him harm.
Finally, as his delusions worsened, he came to believe that his mother was at the heart of the plot to have him killed.
On the day of the attack, on July 31, the jurors heard that McDonald saw his mother’s “erratic” driving as a signal to watchers, while drivers flashing their lights at her car indicated that he was going to be blinded.Believed death was imminentLater, as they ate tea, the court heard he had noticed his mother repeatedly touching her ear and nose, forming the belief that this was a sign to others that he was to be facially mutilated.
The delusions led him to explode in an orgy of violence in the belief that he had just hours to live though he has no recollection of the attack.
Dr Thomas Whyte, a consultant forensic psychiatrist at Perth’s Murray Royal Hospital who interviewed the accused after the attack, said he believed McDonald had felt “compelled to act.”
Dr Whyte said it was clear that “his delusions had escalated and he believed on July 31 that his death was imminent.”
He said, “During that week he had a very rapid descent into acute suspicion of others.
“He believed that his mother, who had cared for him for all those years, was going to have him killed that night, likely most painfully.”
He added, “What happened next I would describe as a “pre-emptive” strike upon his mother, whom he believed was at the heart of the plot.”
Dr Whyte, a witness for the defence, said he believed that McDonald had been insane at the time of the attack.
His view was shared by other witnesses, though not by Dr Thomson and Dr Alcock, who described his status as that of “diminished responsibility” rather than insanity.
They highlighted the fact that after the attack McDonald changed his blood-soaked jeans and put them in a washing machine, that he put together personal effects including his wallet and radio, that he secured the garage and house and that he drove to the Carseview Centre to admit himself as he knew he needed help.
These actions, Dr Thomson and Dr Alcock said, indicated that his reason had not been overpowered and helped them towards the conclusion that he was not insane at the time.
All witnesses, however, agreed that McDonald was suffering from a serious mental disorder that had contributed greatly to the offence.
Jurors yesterday rejected the special defence lodged on McDonald’s behalf-that at the time of the attack he was insane and not responsible for his actions.
They found McDonald guilty of an amended charge that that on July 31 last year, in Kelso Place, he assaulted Mrs Reid and repeatedly struck her on the head and body with a knife and did kill her.
Lord Malcolm, who presided, deferred sentence upon McDonald to the sitting of the High Court in Edinburgh on October 11.
He called for medical reports, a social inquiry report and a mental health officer’s report to assist the court in deciding the appropriate disposal for the matter.
Lord Malcolm said, “I am satisfied on the basis of what is in the reports that Mr McDonald has a mental disorder.
“I am also satisfied that all the relevant criteria for the imposition of an interim compulsion order and detention at the state mental hospital are met.”
He ordered that McDonald be detained at Carstairs for the next 10 weeks before being brought again to the High Court.