Psych report suspected Asperger’s syndrome
An early psychiatric report has surfaced, suggesting acquitted murder suspect Gable Tostee may have Asperger’s syndrome.
He was cleared by a jury at Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday of the murder and manslaughter of Lower Hutt tourist Warriena Wright in Surfers Paradise in August 2014.
After her fatal fall from his 14th-floor balcony – the sound of which he recorded on his cellphone – he went out into Surfers Paradise in the early hours of the morning, walked around and ordered pizza, all without ringing either police or the ambulance service.
The psychiatric report was revealed yesterday by Brisbane’s Courier-Mail. It was provided to a court when Tostee was charged in 2006 over his alleged part in a fake ID racket. He was not convicted.
The doctor described Tostee as a ‘‘partially disabled person’’, and noted he had limited social life or ability to socialise.
The doctor also noted he was not psychotic, but was not able to connect with other people emotionally, putting him at major social disadvantage. He described him as probably suffering from Asperger’s syndrome.
Asperger’s is often described as highfunctioning autism, linked with average to higher-than-average intellect, but difficulty in conceptualising abstract or metaphorical ideas or conversation, or understanding others’ facial expressions. Tostee also suffered from obsessivecompulsive disorder.
The Courier-Mail reported another doctor had seen Tostee between 2001 and 2006 and described him as having aboveaverage intellect, but behavioural problems and abstract communication, pointing to Asperger’s. been the first the juror with the Instagram account in question would have heard of it.
‘‘That juror will discover when she accesses her Instagram account that many members of the public have commented on her decision to communicate with others during the course of the trial,’’ Byrne said.
Sure enough, before the account was briefly deleted and then reactivated in private mode, the court of public opinion had already investigated and dealt swift judgments when they found her account.
‘‘I can’t believe you posted this on Instagram during deliberations,’’ wrote one commenter. ’’Brainless,’’ wrote another.
Tostee’s defence team had applied for a mistrial over the posts, but Byrne declined - allowing the verdict to finally be delivered.
In the series of Instagram photos of takeaway coffee cups on an account open to the public with more than 2000 followers by the time Thursday’s verdict was delivered, the juror, who cannot be identified, chattered generally about her duties on a ‘‘high profile’’ trial.
In some posts on the photo-sharing social media app she had tagged her location as being at the Supreme Court of Queensland. ’’I snagged a nasty one, so it’s a bit full on,’’ she added in one post.
When Instagram commenters repeatedly asked the juror what trial she was on, she replied things like: ‘‘it’s a murder trial’’ that had been ‘‘certainly less than pretty’’ and telling them how many days it had been: ‘‘It’s a tough one!’’