A man accused of brutally stabbing two friends and suffocating one to death with his own blood has pleaded not guilty despite being caught seemingly “red-handed”.
The court on Tuesday viewed footage of a half-naked and incoherent Bilal Fadel being processed by police after his 2020 arrest.
In the footage, Fadel’s hands appear red with the blood of two men he allegedly stabbed hours earlier, one of them fatally injured.
Fadel, wearing torn forensic overalls, was told by one of two police officers in riot gear: “If you misbehave, you’ll be hit hard on deck.”
The 30-year-old has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness to the murder of 40-year-old Nicholas Greindler in the early hours of August 24, 2020.
He also pleaded not guilty on grounds of mental health to injuring Grant Kelly, 49, with intent to kill shortly before stabbing Greindler to death.
Kelly, who survived the attack, told police that Fadell was the one who stabbed her, but that they were “best friends” and didn’t know why.
A single judge in the New South Wales Supreme Court heard on Tuesday that the three lived close to each other in Maryland’s west of Sydney and regularly consumed cannabis and other illegal drugs together. was made into
On the night of the attack, Fadel approached Kelly, an amputee, who was sitting on his mobility scooter in his driveway and said, “Grant, it’s either me or you,” police said.
Fadell pulled a 30cm long knife with a rusty blade from his pants and moved it towards Mr Kelly’s neck, causing Mr Kelly to grab the blade and cut his hand in the process.
The attacker then moved behind Mr Kelly and stabbed him in the neck, back and head, Crown prosecutor Sylvie Sloan told the court.
During the attack, Mr Kelly is said to have shouted: “What are you doing, trying to kill me? Oh my god, you stabbed me.”
Kelly said Fadel then left the scene without saying anything.
Moments later, a neighbor spotted Mr Greindler in the unit with a stab wound to the neck that severed the jugular vein and called Triple Zero.
“Mr. Greindler could not breathe and began to choke on his own blood,” Sloan said.
Shortly after paramedics arrived, Greindler went into cardiac arrest and could not be saved.
Fadel was arrested and taken into custody, but he behaved erratically, talking to himself and refusing to follow police instructions.
Forensic psychologists Stephen Allnutt and Kelly Eagle diagnosed Fadel with a mental disorder most consistent with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.
They also found that Fadell’s use of illegal drugs may have exacerbated his mental health difficulties and precipitated psychosis.
Dr. Eagle said it was unlikely, but not impossible, that Fadell suffered from a mental illness in the years following the stabbing.
Experts said Fadell probably understood the physical nature of his actions and that the knife would cause harm to the victim, but was probably unable to understand whether his actions were wrong. Agreed.
The trial continues.
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