A mother who witnessed her son kill his sister in the front yard of a NSW home said her daughter had pleaded for him to stop while neighbours described the man as “going berserk”,a jury has heard.
Jason Raymond Patterson is on trial in the Supreme Court in Sydney after pleading not guilty to murdering his half-sister Jody James,42,in Deniliquin on November 17,2021.
Jason Raymond Patterson is accused of murdering his sister Jody James in 2021.Facebook
The 35-year-old does not dispute causing the death of James,whom he beat with a hatchet and rocks before setting her alight,but argues he was suffering from a mental health impairment.
On Tuesday,the jury was shown body-worn camera vision of police arriving at the home and arresting Patterson as James’ body – which was blurred in the footage – lay smouldering in the front yard.
“Get on the ground now,don’t move,” a female officer yelled,asking her colleague to “get the hose”.
Patterson,who was shirtless and wearing a cap and shorts,dropped to the ground and put his hands behind his back. He laughed,joked about making the handcuffs tighter,told police to pour more petrol on the body,and said,“It’s the Illuminati,mate … look at the circle on the front lawn”.
The crime scene in Deniliquin in November 2021.Nine News
Police could be heard confirming James was dead. As an officer used a hose,Patterson continued to laugh and said,“That ain’t my sister,no way”.
The pair’s mother,Jenny Patterson,had visited her two youngest children earlier that day before she was called back to the home by James,who described her brother as having “gone mad”.
In a police statement read to the court,she said she arrived to see James’ face covered in blood and said,“Come here,Jode” before her son yelled,“no,no”.
“He was so aggressive,I’ve never seen him like this before,” the mother said.
“I saw Jody put her arms up in the air,and she was saying,‘No,Jason,no,Jason.’
“Jason yelled at me,‘Back off,go,go’ … I can only assume he didn’t want me to see what was happening.”
The mother said she heard another neighbour remark,“He has set her alight”,and she saw “flames coming off” her daughter as police arrived.
‘The scream was chilling’
Statements from multiple neighbours who witnessed the incident were also read to the jury.
One woman said Jason Patterson had been mowing that morning and chatted to her and her father as they had a cup of tea. She said he seemed “OK,but a bit hyper,almost like he was a little bit distressed”.
She later watched him screaming,“You’re evil” and holding an axe,which the prosecutor said was a hatchet. The neighbour described Patterson as “full of so much anger” and “going berserk”.
Another woman said she saw a man “king hit” a woman with long black hair,who then fell back.
“The scream was chilling,” she said. “I didn’t see her make any movement after this.”
That neighbour said she watched the man hit the woman at least 10 or 20 more times,then about four times with a brick,which the prosecutor said was determined to be a rock.
She saw the man use an aerosol can and a lighter and said,“on the third attempt,I saw a fireball”.
A couple said they drove towards the smoke and initially thought there was a small pile of clothes in the yard before realising it was a person. The woman called triple zero and said she was “screaming”,telling the operator there was a body on fire and police needed to come “now”.
Patterson ‘not criminally responsible’
Opening the defence case,public defender Michael King said Patterson had loved his sister,who “until that terrible day,he got along with very well”.
He said Patterson,who was a long-term user of ice and cannabis,moved in with James months earlier after his long-term relationship broke down,and his mental health began to deteriorate. King said Patterson’s “descent into clearly what was a form of madness” included a belief that the voices in his head were from his COVID-19 shot.
“When he did kill Jody James he thought she was possessed by a devil,he thought she was part of the Illuminati,” the barrister said.
He acknowledged Patterson killed James in a “horrible,violent manner” but said his client “didn’t know what he was doing ... was seriously wrong” and should be found not criminally responsible.
“When you come to look at this matter,please don’t let your humanity get lost in the horror of what happened on that day in November 2021,” King said to the jury.
“Jason Patterson killed his sister Jody,but he isn’t a murderer.”
The Crown argued Patterson’s hallucinations arose from the temporary effects of ingesting ice and that he does not fit the criteria for mental health defences.
King said there was no dispute Patterson was in a psychotic state,but there was debate over the name and cause of his psychosis. He anticipated evidence from two experts for the defence that Patterson was suffering from the psychiatric disorder of schizophrenia or schizophreniform.
The trial continues before Justice Hament Dhanji.
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