Insanity verdict in hit-run kill case

THE killer of a pedestrian in a hit-and-run last year has been found not guilty of murder on grounds of insanity by a jury in the Supreme Court in Launceston.

Kings Meadows man Joshua Josef Barker, 31, pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and one count of assault.

He was accused of deliberately driving his black Ford Ranger onto a footpath and hitting and killing Dale James Watson, who was unknown to him, as he walked to the shops in Prospect Vale last year.

The court heard Mr Barker was driving between 40km/h and 47km/h as he drove over the footpath at the corner of Knox and Burrows streets and there were no signs his car was out of control or that he tried to brake.

There were no witnesses to the event, but local residents heard and saw Mr Barker’s car in the moments before and after hearing a “loud thud” .

It took the jury 40 minutes to return a verdict to Justice Robert Pearce after hearing closing submissions yesterday on day seven of the trial.

The verdict on both counts was that Mr Barker “committed the acts charged but was insane at the time so as not to be responsible according to law”.

Terrence Watson, the father of the victim, struggled to hold back tears as he spoke with media outside the court.

“The only thing I can say is that justice has been served,” he said. “I’m glad for the outcome and I don’t want anyone else to walk in my shoes.”

Mr Watson described his son as a “loving boy” who was getting his life together and learning to cook.

Crown prosecutor Linda Mason said the trial was an “unusual case” where many of the facts were agreed by both parties.

Defence lawyer Evan Hughes suggested Mr Barker was not aware of a person on the street corner when he cut across it in his car.

He urged the jury to find Barker had committed manslaughter by culpable negligence, but find him not guilty on grounds of insanity.

Psychiatrist Dr Edwin Elcock told the jury Mr Barker suffered chronic PTSD as a result of being bashed by four men with makeshift weapons in 2009.

He said Barker was experiencing a relapse of acute PTSD, which left him thought disordered, delusional, irrational and unable to know the difference between right and wrong.

Mr Barker was remanded in custody to November 18.