00:00Well, Jordan Finney and Gunafo pleaded not guilty to six charges, including Mr. Toga's
00:06murder after he repeatedly stabbed the 29-year-old in the Campbelltown McDonald's car park in
00:12an unprovoked attack in April last year.
00:15Now, up until recently, this case had appeared to be headed for a jury trial, but this week
00:21the New South Wales Supreme Court was told of evidence from psychiatrists that Finney
00:26and Gunafo has a mental health impairment in the form of schizophrenia and that he was
00:30experiencing symptoms of psychosis at the time, including hearing the voices of demons
00:36telling him to harm other people.
00:38Now, according to experts engaged by both the Crown and the defence team, that deprived
00:43him of the ability to see that his act was wrong at the time, and it made available to
00:48him a special verdict of act proven but not criminally responsible.
00:53Today in court, Justice David Davies said there was nothing to cast doubt on the opinions
00:58of those two psychiatrists and entered that special verdict on all six charges.
01:04In court, members of Steven Toga's family were sitting in the public gallery and there
01:08was a real sense of disbelief in their reactions.
01:11Many of them were shaking their heads and one person yelled out, you chose not to take
01:16your medication, you're the demon.
01:18Now this means that Finney and Gunafo will be periodically reviewed by a mental health
01:22tribunal.
01:23The court has also heard that he wasn't on medication at the time and he was involved
01:27in several other incidents in the day before this stabbing attack, including intimidating
01:32a woman in a Bunnings car park, scraping his knife over a vehicle in the car park and pulling
01:38that weapon on two separate witnesses in the lead up to this stabbing attack.
01:42The Toga family say they are simply appalled by this outcome and they say that Steven has
01:47been lost to a deeply flawed and broken system.
01:51Relatives are now planning to meet with the NSW Minister for Mental Health, Rose Jackson,
01:56and the State's Attorney General, Michael Daly.
01:58Let's hear from his father, Geoff Toga.
02:02What shocks us most is that more than 12 months after Steven's death, his killer was assessed
02:09by two forensic psychiatrists.
02:13It was their opinion that ultimately led to the verdict that Steven's killer should not
02:17be held criminally responsible for his death.
02:24These opinions were never tested in court and the two psychiatrists responsible for
02:30this deeply offensive decision have not even set foot in the courtroom.
02:37Steven's killer got away with murder.
02:42Now there were also members and supporters of the Finney and Gunafo family here today.
02:47They sat in a separate section of the public gallery.
02:49Outside, one person who was in that group simply said, we're sorry, and defence lawyer
02:54Javid Faiz said this is a tragic case and the family wished to extend their deepest
02:59empathy and condolences.
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