Doubleview murder: Chudier Pal’s claims of insanity at time of girlfriend’s killing rejected by Supreme Court

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT A former semi-professional basketball player who said he was not of sound mind when he bludgeoned his girlfriend to death — and then set her house on fire — has had his insanity claims rejected by WA’s Supreme Court. Chudier Thowath Pal had been in a relationship with mother-of-five Stephanie Lee Robinson for just two weeks when, on January 2, 2021, he repeatedly struck her in the head with a ratchet so hard he crushed her skull, hid her naked body under a mattress, and set her house on fire. After his arrest, Pal, who played with Rockingham and Mandurah and trained with the Perth Wildcats, was transferred to the Frankland Centre where he was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and prescribed a range of anti-psychotic medications. He later pleaded guilty to one count each of murder and arson on the grounds of insanity. During a judge-alone trial in June, forensic psychiatrist Dr Adam Brett said Pal had a history of substance abuse, and delusional beliefs and had been diagnosed with a severe single manic episode with psychotic symptoms during a previous term of imprisonment for unrelated offending. Upon his release, the 30-year-old ceased taking his prescribed medication and no further mental health assistance was received. In his testimony, Dr Brett, who assessed Mr Pal last December, told the court Pal was so unwell at the time of the offence that he lacked the capacity to control his actions. He said Pal and Ms Robinson had been taking illicit drugs together in the hours before her death and that soon afterwards, the former began experiencing a number of psychotic phenomena. One was that he believed he was the son of God and that he was on a divine mission and receiving messages from pigeons. He also believed there was a plot to “take him out”, which Ms Robinson was part of, and that he was to be killed. He told the doctor he’d heard Ms Robinson scream the word “boys” and that he believed that he had to kill her to save himself. He also said that he’d believed at the time that he was doing the right thing and that God was within him. When asked by Pal’s lawyer, Karen Farley, if he had concluded that his behaviour that night was driven by his mental disorder rather than his drug use, Dr Brett agreed. It was a different conclusion from that of forensic psychiatrist Dr Victoria Pascu, who also assessed Pal. Dr Pascu testified she did not find that the accused was not in control of his actions because she did not hear any evidence that he’d heard voices telling him to do it. She also told the trial she and Dr Brett differed on what constituted a person to be deprived of control, adding that she was a bit more “stringent and conservative”. She also said after Pal was treated in hospital for schizoaffective disorder that he was still “chronically psychotic”. In a Supreme Court decision delivered on Friday, Justice Joseph McGrath found Pal was suffering from a mental impairment and had been “acutely psychotic” at the time of Ms Robinson’s murder. He also concluded that this mental impairment, namely a schizoaffective disorder, had deprived him of the capacity to know that he ought not to kill Ms Robinson, or to set the house on fire. But Justice McGrath was not satisfied Pal did not have the capacity to control his actions. He also ultimately found that Pal’s use of meth on the night in question had “worsened or exacerbated the effects of his mental illness” and that as a result, it was not possible to “disentangle the effects of the methylamphetamine from Mr Pal’s mental illness”. “I find that at the time of the alleged offences, the methylamphetamine that Mr Pal had consumed had an overpowering effect upon Mr Pal’s mind,” Justice McGrath said. “I am satisfied that Mr Pal has not proven that he suffered from the mental impairment at the relevant time independently of and without regard to his intoxication.” As a result, he rejected Pal’s plea that he was not guilty by reason of unsoundness of mind and found that Pal had the intention to kill Ms Robinson on the night of her murder. Pal will be sentenced next year.