A man who allegedly shot his elderly mother told his mental fitness hearing he was unable to face a murder trial but would not take antipsychotic drugs for delusions because they were "mind-altering".
Paul Cohrs, 62, a former deputy mayor of Wentworth Shire in NSW, appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria accused of fatally shooting his mother, Bette Cohrs-Schulz, at Red Cliffs near Mildura in 2018.
He later turned a shotgun on himself.
The accused man represented himself at a mental fitness hearing on Monday after refusing to accept a lawyer appointed by Victorian Legal Aid.
"Do I stand, your honour?" Mr Cohrs asked Justice Lesley Taylor when he was invited to cross-examine one of the psychiatrists who assessed him.
"If you like," Justice Taylor said.
Psychiatrist says the accused suffers delusions
The Supreme Court heard from Maria Triglia, a consultant forensic psychiatrist, who testified that Mr Cohrs had a "delusional disorder".
"I believe he has a number of persecutory delusions," Dr Triglia said.
"Essentially, they're fixed false beliefs that the person is the victim of a conspiracy.
"In Mr Cohrs's case, he had a number of beliefs involving his current legal situation but I believe also involving family members … he had a belief that others were conspiring to harm him."
Dr Triglia told the court that Mr Cohrs understood he was charged with murder but that he did not believe it was possible for him to have a fair trial.
"He used the word corruption about various parties in court. He said that he believed that a decision was pre-determined by a previous judge, who had told him that he must plead guilty," Dr Triglia said.
"He believed that utilising legal representation through Legal Aid was intended to entrap him."
But Dr Triglia said antipsychotic medication could make Mr Cohrs fit to stand trial.
Mr Cohrs represents himself, rejects drug treatment
Mr Cohrs's diagnosis was also echoed by Danny Sullivan, another consultant forensic psychiatrist.
"In recent years, numbers of witnesses noted that he had become increasingly preoccupied with various members of the family who he thought were working against his interests," Dr Sullivan said.
"Mr Cohrs believed that other parties had been drawn into that conspiracy, and he included in that judges, barristers, Legal Aid solicitors," he said.
The court also heard that Mr Cohrs had previously dismissed his own lawyers, who he believed would "make deals" with judges.
But during cross-examination, Mr Cohrs put to the psychiatrist that treating him with drugs was part of a conspiracy.
"In my mind, treating me with these psychotic medications is, in effect, altering my mind to get a result that the judge and everyone else is looking for, so isn't that in effect confirming what I'm saying, that basically, it is an actual set-up?" he said.
Dr Sullivan said he appreciated that from Mr Cohrs's perspective, his beliefs "seem true".
"I don't think anyone is saying that you're a silly man or that the beliefs are not something you believe in," Dr Sullivan said.
"Although you believe those beliefs to be true, in our psychiatric experience, having seen people with similar beliefs, we think that the process by which you've arrived at those beliefs has the hallmark of a delusion," he said.
Mr Cohrs told the court that he was not fit to stand trial but refused to take any medication.
"I feel that I'm being subjected to medical treatment that may be unwarranted," he said.
Justice Taylor reserved her decision and told the court she had asked authorities when a bed at the secure Thomas Embling Hospital in Melbourne would be available.
