Perth mum struggled to get mental health support for son before alleged triple-murder, court told

The court was told how he was detained by police about a kilometre from his family’s home at a 7-Eleven, without shoes or a shirt on and his hands covered in blood, after 1am on July 15, 2018.

State prosecutor Paul Usher told the court how Mr Petersen-Crofts told the store attendant he had killed members of his family because “they were hitting me with a club and poking me with a knife” and if he had not killed them, “they would have killed me”.

Police discovered the bodies of Ms Petersen and Rua in a bedroom where the wooden door appeared to have been forced open, with splintering around the handle.

A kitchen knife with a 20cm blade and a sharpener were found on the floor of the room.

When paramedics got to Bella she was still alive lying in the backyard and softly asking for help. She died a short time later, having been stabbed 48 times.

Mr Petersen-Crofts was 19 years old at the time and had been released from St John of God Hospital Midland on the morning of the killings.

He had been held overnight because of a mental health episode which saw him go to a police station with no shirt on, claiming his neighbour was a serial killer.

Mr Usher told the court how various neighbours had seen Mr Petersen-Crofts outside the family’s house on Brixton Crescent in Ellenbrook the day before the killings, waving a stick around and saying things like, “look at my eyes, my eyes are normal, my eyes are brown”.

Ms Petersen was scared of going home and tried to get police to take her son from the property, but when they arrived they did not find he was acting strangely. Mr Petersen-Crofts told them he had been shouting in the street earlier to vent because he had a drug debt.

When told by police what happened, Ms Petersen tried to get a mental health team to go to the house later that night, but Mr Petersen-Crofts was no longer there.

Mr Petersen-Crofts went to the police station after 8pm that night, with the sergeant at the station deciding he should be detained under the Mental Health Act.

He was taken into the St John of God emergency department in Midland about 9.45pm, where he told doctors his neighbour was a serial killer, his parents had raped him, and he was a warrior who protected everyone.

Mr Petersen-Crofts was given medication and released the next day when hospital staff determined he had no thoughts of harming himself or others.

Ms Petersen was concerned on a phone call with the hospital about the prospect of her son being released and told them she thought he had mental health issues not related to drug use.

Later that day, he was back at his mother’s home prior to Rua’s baptism.

Mr Usher told the court how two friends of Ms Petersen remembered Mr Petersen-Crofts talking about gods and saying his mother was evil.

After the baptism, neighbours heard shouting and screams for help in the evening.

Mr Petersen-Crofts told police in a recorded interview on July 15 that his next-door neighbour was a serial killer who had tied him up and made him watch as he killed his family.

“I woke up and he came into the house and then he killed them and then my sister screamed outside and he killed her and he made me watch by tying me on a chair,” he said.

Mr Petersen-Crofts also spoke to police about “seeing colours” and how “big papa” – in reference to Maori creation spirit Papatuanuku – had told him to save four billion people.

“He has got a grey face, he’s got red eyes and he’s got grey eyes,” he said.

“I’m not god, I’m just a human god.”

Mr Usher told the court how Ms Petersen had tried for months to get help through the mental health system for her son, who had struggled at times with meth use and homelessness.

Mr Petersen-Crofts had been admitted to St John of God one month before the deaths, where he told staff he had used meth two days earlier.

A social worker at the hospital spoke to Ms Petersen and told her Mr Petersen-Crofts would not be admitted and had deemed his presentation related to meth and cannabis use.

Mr Usher told the court how Ms Petersen said to the social worker her son had mental health issues and she did not want him to come home because she had a “15-year-old and an eight-year-old to think of”.

Mr Petersen-Crofts sat with his arms crossed throughout Friday’s hearing, putting his head in his right hand at times when listening to the facts being laid out by the prosecutor.

Psychiatrist suggests schizophrenia

State-ordered psychiatrist Daniel de Klerk told the court it was his opinion Mr Petersen-Crofts had treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

Dr de Klerk conducted two interviews with Mr Petersen-Crofts in October and January, and told the court he was still psychotic at the second meeting.

“He was very anxious, he was very eager to inform me that he was not a bad person, [he] was a good person and he required repeated reassurances I was not there to judge him,” he said.

“Mr Petersen-Crofts clearly did not like discussing information about the nature of his delusions.

“He was certainly very reluctant to discuss specific aspects about the alleged offending.”

Dr de Klerk said seeing material such as the police interview and CCTV footage from 7-Eleven reaffirmed his opinion of Mr Peterson-Crofts having schizophrenia.