Mentally ill killer locked up in hospital after killing his dad
A schizophrenic who stabbed his father to death before trying to kill two children because he thought they would be ‘tortured and crucified’ will remain on a secure ward.
Suluk Ahmed, 32, believed he was ‘saving them from a fate worse than death’ when he launched the attacks on his children on 23 August last year.
Twice married Ahmed had been regarded as an ‘ordinary outgoing man’ but left his job as an administrator at St Mary’s Hospital about a year before the stabbings.
The Old Bailey heard Ahmed was suffering from a ‘defect of reason’ because of his mental health condition and believed he was ‘doing the right thing’ at the time of the attacks.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC said: ‘He didn’t know at the time of the stabbings what he was doing was wrong.
‘He was thus legally insane and therefore entitled in law to a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
‘In these very, very unusual circumstances, a finding of not guilty does not mean the court has no power to impose restrictions on the defendant.’
A jury last week acquitted Ahmed of manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder by reason of insanity.
But he was today (Thurs) made subject to a hospital order with an indefinite time limit.
The court heard Ahmed killed his elderly father at his home in Huddleston Close, Bethnal Green, east London, before stabbing two children, aged two and 11.
Ms Johnson said two eminent psychiatrists agreed that at the time of the stabbings, Ahmed was legally insane as he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
‘On the day…he was so out of touch with reality that he believed [they] were going to be tortured and then crucified and at the time of the stabbings he decided to kill his very elderly father and [the two children] because he believed they were the most vulnerable to this imminent torture and crucifixion,’ she continued.
‘At the time he believed he was doing the right thing by saving them from a fate worse than death.’
DCI Andrew Packer, of the Metropolitan Police said: ‘This is an extremely tragic case.’
He added: ‘The psychiatric evidence heard in court clearly demonstrated Suluk was suffering from severe mental illness and did not understand the gravity or nature of his actions at the material time. He will now receive the medical treatment he clearly requires.’
Ahmed, of [53] Huddleston Close, Bethnal Green, east London, denied manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder and was acquitted of all charges by reason of insanity.
ENDS
