A MAN who strangled his 18-year-old girlfriend to death at Metford in 2020 was in a psychotic state and had formed the belief she was a "demon" who was "sucking the life out of him", a jury has heard.
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Jordan Brodie Miller, now 21, on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to murder and faced the first day of an estimated two-week trial in Newcastle Supreme Court.
There is no dispute that it was Mr Miller who killed his girlfriend, 18-year-old Emerald Wardle, at a home in Galway Crescent in the early hours of June 20, 2020.
He confessed the next morning at his first court appearance, loudly repeating: "I am a murderer" until the audio visual link was cut off.
Instead, Mr Miller's trial will focus on his mental state around the time of the killing and what caused him to be in a "psychotic state", Crown prosecutor Lee Carr, SC, said during his opening address.
He had formed a belief his girlfriend was a demon and she was sucking the life out of him.
- Public Defender Peter Krisenthal said.
The prosecution case is that Mr Miller's mental state was a result of drug induced psychosis, linked back to an amount of LSD he had ingested 11 days before Ms Wardle was killed.
But the defence, led by Public Defender Peter Krisenthal, say Mr Miller was suffering from his first episode of psychosis, in the form of an underlying chronic schizophrenia, and has available to him a defence of mental health impairment.
During his opening address, Mr Krisenthal said Mr Miller had killed Ms Wardle but because he was in a psychotic state at the time he did not understand the "full implication of what he was doing".
"He had formed a belief his girlfriend was a demon and she was sucking the life out of him," Mr Krisenthal told the jury. "He also thought he was trapped in a coma or matrix and the only way he thought he could save himself was to kill himself or kill Emerald."
A neighbour heard arguing and a loud bang in the early hours of June 20 before Mr Miller called a counselling service and the police to say he had killed a "demon".
Mr Krisenthal said the background to Mr Miller suffering the psychotic condition was crucial and he had been a loving partner, enthusiastic employee and university student before a descent into a psychotic state that led him to believe he had special powers and people were after him.
"The crux of this trial is; when did that descent commence," Mr Krisenthal said.
He said while Mr Miller had consumed LSD on June 9, his behaviour had already started to become "unusual" and "problematic" before then. The prosecution and defence will each call expert evidence from respected forensic psychiatrists to provide opinions on the extent and cause of Mr Miller's psychotic condition.
