An Australian teenager who enjoyed watching snuff movies was convicted Wednesday of the murder of a 15-year-old boy who he shot nine times.
Matthew O'Grady, 18, killed Christopher "Spike" Brown with a .22 calibre rifle after luring him into a remote area at Wentworth Falls, west of Sydney, on May 14 or 15 last year.
The Supreme Court here had been told O'Grady was a drug user and watcher of snuff films which portrayed live executions, killings, autopsies and suicides.
He told the court he had heard a voice in his head telling him to murder his victim.
Brown met his killer for the first time at a party, where O'Grady persuaded him to go into nearby scrub with a fictitious story about stealing marijuana plants, the court heard.
On the way, he stopped at his house to collect a rifle, load it and attach a home-made silencer.
The boys then left a 14-year-old girl who was with them in a clearing and went further into the bush where Brown was shot six times in the head, once in the shoulder, once in the thigh and once in the heart.
After the shooting, O'Grady threw away the rifle, went back to the girl and had sex with her.
The next morning he confessed to the killing.
The defense claimed that O'Grady was in a "depersonalized state," unable to control his actions and acting as an automaton -- a state described as similar to sleep-walking.
At least three doctors called by the defense told the jury O'Grady was in a depersonalized state at the time of the shooting and a fourth said he was in the throws of an epileptic fit.
However, a psychiatrist for the prosecution told the jury O'Grady was in control of his actions and aware they were wrong, because of the way the killing had been carefully planned and executed.
It was also submitted that the only explanation for the killing was that O'Grady was looking for a "high," having recently reduced his drug intake.
He will be sentenced at a later date -- SYDNEY (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
