Judge finds ‘insane’ wife killer not guilty
‘‘He did it.’’
Those were the last words spoken by Petra Frank after her husband, Simon Harvey Frank, in the grip of a mental disorder, had stabbed her twice in the belief that by killing her, he was securing her place in heaven.
Frank, 56, faced one charge of murder at the High Court in Rotorua yesterday, with Justice Pheroze Jagose ruling he was not guilty by reason of insanity.
Petra Frank, 58, was killed on April 14 at Taupo after the couple travelled from their Wellington home for a weekend away.
Petra Frank, 58, was a kindergarten teacher while her husband had worked as a business analyst on contracts for multiple government departments and was well known around the city.
Citing three psychiatric reports, Jagose said that at the time of the killing Frank was ‘‘incapable of knowing his actions were morally wrong’’.
The court was told that Frank was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1987 and had been on medication ever since, and that his mental wellbeing had deteriorated in the run-up to his wife’s killing.
He had come to believe that a member of his synagogue was a paedophile, that his neighbours were running a methamphetamine
"The thought he should kill his wife kept playing through his mind. As the Messiah, God wanted him to kill his wife, he felt compelled to act on this belief. [He thought] 'both of us will rise in heaven if I kill her'."
Justice Pheroze Jagose
lab and that his computer had been hacked.
He also believed he was able to read signs in the clouds.
On the journey to Taupo, the court was told, Frank was having visions of the number three, which he believed signalled there was three minutes, hours or weeks until the end of the world.
He also believed he was the new Messiah.
‘‘The thought he should kill his wife kept playing through his mind,’’ Jagose said.
‘‘As the Messiah, God wanted him to kill his wife, he felt compelled to act on this belief.’’
‘‘[He thought] ‘both of us will rise in heaven if I kill her’.’’
Jagose revealed that Frank stabbed his wife twice with a carving knife, wounds described as ‘‘unsurvivable’’, before calling an ambulance and saying what he had done.
It was while an ambulance officer was attempting to staunch the bleeding that Petra said ‘‘he did it’’.
Jagose also dismissed any idea Frank was using what he described as his ‘‘extensive history of mental illness’’ as a cover for the killing, saying his paranoid symptoms persisted for weeks after the killing.
‘‘He still thinks he can see special signs in the sky,’’ he said.
Remanding Frank in mental health custody for further treatment, Jagose said he was at significant risk of selfharm ‘‘once he realises the enormity of what he’s done’’.
Frank’s daughter was present in court and throughout the hearing Frank – who appeared via Audio Visual Link – cried and sobbed.
In his final ruling, Jagose said Frank was suffering from ‘‘a disease of the mind’’.
‘‘[He was] convinced he had to kill his wife and didn’t think it was wrong,’’ the judge declared.