A man who texted a former partner it was “on to the death” if cops showed up at his former landlord’s unit, before stabbing a police officer, has been ruled not to be criminally responsible because of mental illness.
Jacob Patrick Morgan faced a special hearing in the Downing Centre District Court this week after it was determined he was unfit to stand trial in November 2022.
Morgan was charged with a series of offences stemming from the events of June 11, 2021.
He stole a Ralph Lauren cap and Ellesse jacket from the Glue Store at Chatswood in Sydney’s lower north shore, threatening two employees with a knife.
Screaming as he made his way down a Manly street hours later, he told a man to look away and threatened to stab him.
The man called police and was stabbed in the upper arm.
Morgan told his 58-year-old former landlord who had kicked him out for using the drug ice about the man he had stabbed a few hours later, as he tried to kick down the door of his Narraweena unit, threatening to do the same to him and scratching his door with the knife.
The former landlord called police, gave them Morgan’s name and told them the man was schizophrenic and had a knife.
When police arrived at the unit, Morgan sprayed a fire extinguisher at them as a Taser was deployed, before stabbing one of the officers in the hand.
He was shot and handcuffed.
Evidence on police bodycams was “patently clear”, Judge Alister Abadee said.
Lawyers for the prosecution and Morgan agreed the acts were proven but Morgan was not criminally responsible because of mental illness.
Earlier on June 11, Morgan went to a unit of a woman he used to date.
In a statement to the court, she recalled Morgan barricading her unit, describing WhatsApp messages from the “Illuminati” before performing a blood ritual with candles.
As he waited outside his landlord’s unit, he texted her that “if cops come here it’s on … like on on … like to the death”.
“I’m on ASIO’s watch list as a satanic ecological terrorist,” he texted.
Other observers of Morgan’s behaviour on the day described him as “shakey”, “scary” and “psychotic”.
He was also recorded talking with paramedics on the way to the hospital.
“I recognise that by this stage the defendant had been shot,” the judge said.
“Nevertheless, the defendant made statements to the paramedics that were audible and which were consistent with delusional and disordered thought processes otherwise evidenced on that day.”
The judge found Morgan had chronic, treatment-resistant schizophrenia and did not understand what he was doing.
He ordered Morgan be detained at a place of the Mental Health Review Tribunal’s choosing until released
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