Louis Andrews August 29, 2012
A Yarralumla man accused of murdering his mother earlier this year has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental impairment.
Gabor Laszlo Aranyi has been charged with murdering Ottilia Aranyi at their inner-south home.
But the ACT Magistrates Court was this morning told Aranyi’s legal team will argue their client was not criminally responsible for his actions.
Ms Aranyi's body was found on April 2, and her 32-year-old son appeared in court the following day.
After his arrest, Aranyi spent time in a psychiatric unit before being transferred to the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
Earlier this month his solicitor told the court the defence had received a psychiatric report canvassing his fitness to plead and whether a mental impairment defence is available.
And this morning barrister James Sabharwal formally entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental impairment.
In the territory’s Criminal Code a mental impairment includes “senility, intellectual disability, mental illness, brain damage and severe personality disorder’’.
The law states a person with a mental impairment is not criminally responsible for an offence if the impairment meant they could not control their actions, did not realise their actions were wrong or they did not know the “nature and quality” of their conduct.
But the defence will have to be prove in court that, on the balance of probabilities, Aranyi was suffering from a mental impairment.
The case is due back in court in October.